Letter home (British Library 1914-2014)

Bone-aching fear tore
into a freezing dugout, where a son
bled muddy tears
to hide from the parent he wanted to hold.
His mother's warmth was unbearable
as he wrote, carefully
as a gunner loading shells.
The paper, a precious petal
that would float
into the hand of the woman who dressed cuts
on his knees and dreamed.