Farewell to Catalonia, 1937*

Bleak sunrise greeted me on the Costa del Sol
as I recovered from my wounds, waiting for Eileen,
my wife, bringing hope and love, to lift my spirits
and return sunny days which will flood my cares away.

Almost four months I served on the front, battling with 
an independent socialist group near Aragon
until granted leave to see Eileen for a bit, returning
to the Madrid front to engage enemies again,

only discovering ‘friendly’ enemies imprisoned many.
I was shot through the neck, cheating death twice,
while my wife suffered in silence before we escaped
making the dangerous train journey to Paris together.

We came with optimism, Eileen and I, determined
to stir working people in Great Britain and France,
engaging them in the great struggle against fascism
before war can break out in wider areas across Europe.

Our cause now appears lost, attacked on our left and right,
both forces with superior backing, neither willing
to see us survive the battle to fight another day,
terrified of the support we might have among the people.

So I recuperate here in Kent, aware but unaffected now
by the Reign of Terror controlling Barcelona,
grateful for survival, yet concerned for comrades there
and for my own sunshine, Eileen, here with me.

*George Orwell’s book, Homage to Catalonia, was published in 1938
Rod Reeves  15 June  2013     rev 22 June 2013