Carriage Drive South Brian Hooper, September 2005
Dark days in England, but darker in France,
all over Europe the Axis advance;
as day turns to twilight, the bats come to dance
in the air over Carriage Drive South.
We were camped to the north, hidden well by the trees,
and one Friday evening the scent on the breeze
drew us out from our cover, to where we could see
who was passing on Carriage Drive South.
Jim Beck saw them first and, prepared for a fight,
he whispered that he'd take the one on the right.
John Morgan took centre, and I lost that night
a good friend on Carriage Drive South.
I'm sorry my friend, you're a man among men,
But this isn't the end, you will see her again.
They were young, they were pretty, that much we could see,
and the one on the right seemed the fairest to me,
but a friend is a friend, so she wasn't for me,
that evening on Carriage Drive South.
So I walked with her sister, we flirted in fun;
she knew right away that she wasn't the one,
still she asked me to meet her down where the rats run
in the morning on Carriage Drive South.
I'm sorry my friend, you're a man among men,
But this isn't the end, you will see her again.
After morning inspection the squad was dismissed,
the sun cleared the treetops and burned off the mist,
and I hurried to meet with the girl I had kissed
last evening on Carriage Drive South.
But there by the pond, not the girl from last night,
nor the one in the middle, but the one on the right
was waiting for me in the watery light
of a morning on Carriage Drive South.
I'm sorry my friend, you're a man among men,
But this isn't the end, you will see her again.
Well, Jim took it badly, it dented his pride,
and never again did we stand side by side.
He's living up North now, across the divide,
a long way from Carriage Drive South.
He was wounded in France, and to Netley he came,
to the hospital where she was nursing the lame;
she kissed him just once, to acknowledge the game
she'd played him on Carriage Drive South.
I'm sorry my friend, you're a man among men,
But it's love and it's war, and you know the score.
Now evening comes round, and our grandchildren play
by the bench where we met on that far distant day;
the bats come to give us another display
in the air over Carriage Drive South.
The Carriage Drives were laid out in the mid 19th century. Today, despite its name, Carriage Drive South is strictly for pedestrians. And, of course, bats and a few rats down by the pond.
Soldiers have been camping on Southampton Common for years, on their way to hostilities across the Channel - from Agincourt to Dunkirk. And they interact in various ways with the local wildlife ........
