Forgotten Soldier All the world he ever knew is gone Damp bedsit keeps him from the cold He hardly sees the sun that shone Old soldier once so brave, so bold For king and country he once served With Lee Enfield, post is manned The medals, now long gone , deserved For a few pounds, pressed in shaky hand Meagre pension spent on food and rent A few bob left for electric fire Yet for his life he does not lament Although his life at times is dire The kettle whistles on an old camp stove Tea bag meets mug for the third time hand around handle donning fingerless glove That hides the sores amongst the grime Grey old eyes stare over steaming cup Clutched with both hands for the heat Sore chapped lips take another sup Of the tea, milkless and unsweet Old washstand in the corner stays Though not used for three weeks and a half No water in the house for days Since turned off by waterboard staff Yet water runs down blistered walls And gathers on top of the skirting Sad eyes slowly close, his mind recalls World war one and all its hurting Hes suddenly back in the trenches Full of friends so tired, so brave Knee deep in the mud, the blood, the stench Knee deep in a ready made grave Down steep narrow steps into muck and mire Along splintered duckboards, into the dugout Safety at last from the line of fire Respite from the battle until the next bout One precious hour of sleep in a bunk Beneath low ceiling, dull flickering light Head in a spin as though punch drunk One precious hour before return to the fight Although exhausted, sleep would not come Was that a rat that ran over the bed Head still banging like a drum What would he give for a dry bedspread All too soon he returns to the fray Across rat eaten boards above the mud German machine guns begin to spray And their artillery barrage lands with a thud German bullets whistle over their heads In the hellish earthquake of Passchendaele The stench of corpses, the limbless dead As the enemy again begin to assail Shell craters full of bloodstained water The intolerable horror returned to his mind Millions of men brought to senseless slaughter Where explosions and screams together bind In the trenches death and devastation brewing Never ending screams and howls through the night One young soldier his last breath spewing As chaplain gives him last rites Suddenly a deadly silence descended The Captain immaculate, from dugout came German barrage temporarily suspended Leaving only the cries of the wounded and lame They knew from his sad look, they were over the top Which caused adrenaline and fear to flow But in that dank place they would rather stop For out there were the deadly foe The whistles blew along the salient Young men clambered out to their death The enemy opened fire all along the front And hundreds drew their last breath Come on brave lads the Captain yelled As a bullet slammed into his chest Into the mud that brave man was felled Alongside others who had failed the test like lambs to the slaughter the young men ran Hindered by barbed wire and mud Into the hell of no mans land But most just cut down where they stood The old soldier woke as memories stirred Those memories hed held for sixty years Yet not once had he ever spoken a word Though many times eyes had filled with tears A home fit for heroes was promised to all But they returned to slums and no work Four years earlier they heeded Kitcheners call And not one would their duty shirk His wife and two children taken by flu After he returned from the front Just a locket left of all he knew All other family dead or absent Back here in the eighties people didnt care How many died for country and king There was striking and discord everywhere They didnt owe these brave men a thing The old man drifted into unconsciousness Hypothermia was setting in fast He finally slipped out of his battledress And the old soldier breathed his last So, lest we forget, wear your poppy with pride For those men who gave lives without fear Remember those who for freedom died And remember those still here!!! Eric Harvey 01/02/2014
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 16:02:06 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015