My Father's Gun Poem by Patrick Fealy

My father's gun was broken
He never got it fixed
I asked him why he left it so
His feelings seemed so mixed
'You didn't fix your rifle?
What if the krauts attacked? '
He didn't want to think about
the blood shed of the past
He saw some kauts surender
outside of Normandy
Only dirty Germans there
We came to set men free
Dad heard us shooting prisoners
outside of Normandy
Only dirty Germans there
We came to set men free
My father slept in winter
upon the frozen ground
He felt just like a dead man
like the bodies all around
'I gave my life to battle
It's Christ who came to live'
He often used to tell me
He only came to give
My father's gun was broken
He used to say to me
'God spared my life and brought me back
to the land of liberty'
My father was soft spoken
He guarded men in war
He learned a little German
and then he said no more
My father slept upon the floor
when I was warm in bed
a blanket and a pillow
to comfort his sweet head
He gave his life to battle
It's Christ who came to live
He often used to tell me
I only came to give