Luton Outlaws - Independent Message Board for Luton Town FC

Poem by Stanley Durnford, POW on the Thailand railway

VJ DAY KHANBURI

"Gentlemen!" he said in tears, "the war is over",
Looking towards a yellow hurricane light,
Held up by someone in the struggling crowd,
I glimpsed your face, its usual smile
Checked in bewilderment at so much joy,
So you must once have looked, when, as a boy,
They gave us gifts at Christmas - now, this Freedom,
Silent, the men sat on in darkness, bowed and still,
As though at prayers, or sleeping after death.
Then slowly, one by one, as a great crowd
Of ransomed spirits might attend their Lord,
Began impulsive movements towards the door.
Stars filled the jagged hills, the village slept.
The shuffling feet paused. Then someone sang,
Timid at first, their voices, gathered in strength,
Sounding a great hymn from the ragged lines,
While, all night long, drums beat in the darkened shrines.

August 16th 1945