Of Use: Seventh Allied Forces
The Folly
Allied Forces
Of Use
To a life of unkind treatment
Toast a prayer—
any person with a heart
As to Krug it can’t matter, who you are
where
He had not had a father
Stray girls are placed in homes to bear the sufferings
The girl had been his mother
Twice, but only once
Twice, but only once—
Because they’d wanted him to live in loneliness…
Murdered for his constancy, as the workhouse chit
apologizing for the child at her skirts, whom she would agree
Mein Herr, surely, yes, to have sent
When old enough to be of use
‘He is only three’
Mouth-breathed through chores, her midriff marked
With an iron-shaped pain
…the sacrifice almost a bonus
Less Krug, in a world one Krug to the surplus
They had wanted him to help
And she, the second human touch he’d felt
If Agnes had not loved him, in so short a space
He had died for her
Yet understand, ye of little faith
Observe.
The falcon is turned panther, stalking the dot
of a torch, a distracted voice chides a dog
It has found…the story makes itself plain…some object among leaves
And sniffs, and carries on sniffing
‘Get on with it,’ says the man
I shall, thinks Falco, but I wish you were not a disappointment
Keltenham, her I want, though you know it, sir, yourself
what she’s done
If I spotted her, I’d fling her down the ravine
And while she lay broken, bury her
So she’d count the minutes…one tossed stone at a time
And slow
It’s carrion the dog’s after, he thinks, inapropos
Close by, close by, foul and reminiscent
But crouching, the war come vividly again
Falco hears a gait…a limp, a dragging shuffle
He almost fancies he hears his name
Of Use
Could It Be
(2022, Stephanie Foster)