Poetry
© Copyright J M Lennox. All Rights Reserved.
Patriotic duty
Destination, an ocean far
For family and country
A young man follows a distant star
His homeland fades before his eyes
The ocean beckons wide and vast
Apprehension and uncertainty
Carelessly tossed into the past
For no amount of training
Could ever prepare his mind
For the horrors he will encounter
Or the courage he will find
The first Great War to end war
Is how it was said to be
Red poppies now held tightly
In remembrance and history
Drenched to the bone, frozen by ice
Bullets flying past his head
He sees his mates bravely fall
A young digger, green of bloodshed
Advance, they shout, and like a shot
He engages with courage and steel
Bullets, bayonets, bombs, gas masks
Is any of this truly – real?
No time to think as the earth shakes
And the mines explode all around
Heard thousands of miles away
That landscape never again, found
Finally the victory cry erupts
And the digger prays a silent prayer
But, for the grace of God
His corpse would be lying there
This war of vivid memories
Forever cruelly etched into his mind
A robber of youth and vitality
True peace never again to find
A very poignant poem, Janette. It still rings true today with all the wars around the world. Did this relate to your grandfather?
ReplyDeleteThanks Christine. Yes - I wrote it after reading his war diary on Anzac Day. I tried to make it pertinent to all soldiers even though initially it was to tell his story (as I interpreted it). Thus the reference to 'digger' - the name for Australian and New Zealand soldiers in WW1.
ReplyDeleteThank you for that, Janette. Only those that were there can know the full horrors of what occurred through out the cruelest of wars.....Lions led by Donkeys.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely Ken. It's especially sad when you think of how the soldiers were so very young, often pretending they were older to qualify to enlist. Yet, they were as you say: Lions led by Donkeys.
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