Roger Waters writes poem for his father
Written by Matt   
Monday, 11 November 2013

Roger Waters (front) with his family, 1943Roger Waters has written a poem (published in Italy's La Repubblica newspaper today) commemorating his father, Eric Fletcher Waters, and he has just sent it to Harry Shindler, the war veteran who helped to find his father's last resting place, as a thank you for his efforts.

Shindler, head of the Italy Star Association, used military maps and intelligence reports to identify the spot where Lieutenant Waters and his comrades in the Royal Fusiliers were surrounded by the Germans and where Waters was killed.

Roger's poem, titled One River, begins:

    When the wind scythes through the crop and good men fall
    And children soft in mothers arms cringe, unbelieving, from the desperados casual blade
    My father, distant now but live and warm and strong, in uniform tobacco haze, speaks out.
    ‘My son’, he says, ‘Stay not the passion of your loss, But rather keen and hone its edge
    That you may never turn away, numb, brute, from bets too difficult to hedge...

The entire poem, written originally in 2002, can be read in the Wall Live tour programme. There are hopes that a memorial will be erected in the location. Shindler: "I'm negotiating with the local council for a monument at that spot in memory of Lieutenant Waters and all the Allied troops who were killed and who have no grave."