Afghan hero’s verse which captivated Radio 4 listeners

Identity by Stewart Hill My last memory in Afghanistan Watching a war horse in the sky, carrying away the worst of loads My dead and injured soldiers I remember thinking of a nebulous soul in a suit and tie Who soon after would be knocking beside the door of a next of kin These thoughts exploded, replaced by burning, broken metal bursting through the blancmange of my brain How little I knew, as I am splayed on the floor No awareness of the knock on my wife’s door, my worried colleagues, nor the shards that tore through my skull Thirty eight years of personal development, stubbed out like the post fire-fight cigarettes we smoked about in Afghanistan No longer can I serve to lead, although I plead just to see again the person I grew to be Now I have a new identity, a poet and a painter of portraits From Sandhurst to the stage, turning the page, new chapters in life, no longer in strife From deployment with colour sergeants, to the enjoyment of John Singer Sargent’s colour From fighting with platoons to grappling with Sassoon I am living a wonderful life *Abridged