Jonathan Aylett shares video of ‘The Ballad of Jenny and Jack’
A Royal Navy officer today shared a video of a Remembrance Day poem he wrote in honour of “the sailors who didn’t come back.”
‘The Ballad of Jenny and Jack’ took Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Aylett a year to write as he strove to capture the right tone.
His poignant reading ends with: “A toast to the ones we will never forget, the sailors who didn’t come back.”
Honour the sacrifice and service
“I wanted to honour the sacrifice and service of those who have served,” Lt Cdr Aylett told WM News.
“It’s a poem of remembrance – a toast to the sailors who never made it back.”
Lt Cdr Aylett, who joined the Royal Navy in 1998, said the Jenny and Jack in the title refer to “Jack Tar” and “Jenny Wren” – traditional colloquial nicknames for sailors.
“I wanted it to strike the right tone, to have popular appeal but to be strictly apolitical, because in the Armed Forces we serve the Crown, not the Government, which is why we’re called the Royal Navy.”
A toast of Royal Navy rum
At the end of his reading, Lt Cdr Aylett drinks what appears to be a large measure of Pusser’s Rum, the official rum of the Royal Navy.
“I’ll let you into a little secret – the ‘rum’ in the video is in fact cold tea,” he added.
“I couldn’t risk coughing and spluttering on the video as it’s strong stuff.”
See more of Lt Cdr Aylett’s poetry
Lt Cdr Aylett has had many of his poems published by Stairwell Books.
His work can also be viewed on his Instagram page – @jonathanaylettpoetry
