PART 7

INTO 1988. OPERATION HOOPER – THE COUNTER-OFFENSIVE CONTINUED

The Boers observe the movements of a column from a long way off, only showing very few men. Then, having chosen some advantage, charge in with great boldness; and the result is a serious casualty list.

Field Marshal Lord Horatio Kitchener,
in a despatch during the 1899-1902 Boer War.

The green time has come

The rains invade

The listing masthead

tilts and tilts again

surrend’ring eighteen years

Heeling beneath mud

final arms laid down

rebuke life’s brevity

No dry dust remains Nor sign Nor shallow mound

Angola’s reclaimed

Unsung The boy from Cuba dies again

Kathryn Kane,
1976.