THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY
by James L.S. Carter
Dedicated to Lieutenant Grant Carter (1960-1981)
The amphibious motor vessel the "Ardennes"
Sailed from Faslane on an occasional grim
Yet grand: a year after the death of him
Whose bier was borne by his own troop of men,
To drop his ashes in the Gareloch sea
At that same place where he was wont to sail,
,
After capsizing, righting without fail
As skilful in the craft as he could be,
Fateful canoe that stopped in waves that sped
As fast as flowers we threw upon the tide,
Gliding away along the vessel's side,
Into the mirrored blue horizon fled!
As Signalmen held the chute, with Padre's prayer,
As waters lapped, I felt he was there.
LINES WRITTEN FOR MY BROTHER'S FUNERAL
by James L.S. Carter
He gave great love from his birth to his death
And he received great love.
He was full of love all his life
And he was full of life
He was a bright and rising star
And like a bright and falling star
Vanished from us like a rainbow in July
May God who loves him love him for ever
ARCAS WILL NEVER DIE
by James L.S. Carter
They say that Arcas died in a canoe
Caught in a stopper in a German weir,
That there was nothing anyone could do
To save young Arcas from a heavenly bier.
They say that young Prince Arcas is no more,
Never will call to send his love again,
That he has parted for some distant shore
Where spates will never flood a river's glen
But we prefer to think of him at Rhu,
Capsizing many times his skilful boat.
Successful in his parents' worried view,
As if it were a game to stay afloat.
Then in the life of living memory
He stays alive: Arcas will never die,
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