Shellshock

The brothers, both veterans of World War I, built small houses side
by side, very near their mother's
Their businesses did very well and
The older brother made a path
Strung with lights to walk each night to visit her.
Slightly uphill though later
Graded for a tennis court
Because of the
War he needed the lights, being shellshock,
That mysterious condition which
Explained the somewhat strange
Behavior of certain veterans or their wives
His wife, for instance, was passionate about flowers
The younger brother's wife was not
And he built a big handsome house
Some distance from their mother's
And soon his small house was moved
To another lot they owned of the older brother to
Leaving much land for the wife growing flowers and flowering shrubs
Azaleas rhododendrons & crepe myrtle
The beautiful landscape was
Pointed out to all visitors but
The children of both brothers were sent off to school
And the tennis court grew up in weeds.

The brother who suffered shellshock
Died and later the wife who loved flowers died
And all of the children of both brothers divorced:
So what do we know about doing well in business, shellshock
And the failure of flowers?

[Undated poem by Virginia McKinnon Mann. This was clearly a first draft, handwritten on a piece of yellow notebook paper. Thus there is some grammatical confusion and the lines lack Virginia's usual meticulousness.]