DOING THEIR STUFF
Between the wars, the painted 'Shilling Sicks'
those fussy Channel steamers, ferried troupes
of families, with pork pies, beer and sticks
of rock, to France, briefly, in raucous groups,
on mini-holidays. They came and went,
folksy and risible as fish and chips.
Yet on a bright June day, the Maid of Kent
and Gracie Field were royal among ships.
June 1940 glared down from the sky
but yachts, tugs, shrimpers crossed the sea by moon,
rations don't stretch to beer or a pork pie.
The troops are waiting at Dunkirk - and soon
the Shilling Sicks arrive, chug to and fro
for silent men with nowhere else to go.
