ART HISTORY ADVENT CALENDAR

 Week of Power

17th of December - Midshipman's Ambition

Dearest Lady Winifred Sudbury:

your son, Midshipman Arthur Sudbury

on board HMS Venus,

was sadly killed in action

 by the German torpedo that sank that craft.

He died, though young and fresh,

for Crown and Country...

Everytime Mum took me to the Museum

I always stared aghast at Lord Nelson,

whose feats I also eagerly read.

Now I see I am meant to share his fate,

dying on deck...

Even though his death came from above,

and mine from below...

Yet I am only a paltry Midshipman:

I shall never be a war hero...