There was a shelter in the yard
Of corrugated iron
The government provided it
To give us safe environs.
So when the sirens blew at night
We had to run down quickly
My mother’s face a chalky white
With fear and looking sickly.
That hole was oh so cold and damp
With water on the Floor
Lit only by a flickering lamp
And a blast wall for a door
It was the bombs that scared my mum
But that was not my worry
For I had seen the spiders there
And I had seen them scurry.
So while she prayed that we would live
To see the morning light
My only hope was that no bug
would get me in the night.