Headlong

 

The whistle blew a sound we all knew

it signalled the call for me and you

We scarmbled up and over laden with ammo and rifles

with fearful courage we did not trifle

Headlong we charged into the waiting gloom

there seemed to be very little space or room

We formed a jagged line of humanity

gay and straight, black and white, who gave a shite

in this one great calamity

This was no patriotic monochrome endeavour to teach

we were men running and gasping all for each

Bullets spilled into our bodies as icy sleet falls

the smell of death and fear I do recall

Some fell in the mud quite dead to see

yet we ran on headlong you and me

The thunder of artillery began its barrage

as clumps of earth erupted in a violent rampage

I lost my bearings as I screamed for my mother

O God what had happened to my brother

He was further up the line to the west

I loved him, he was one of the best

Beside me a voice cried You ok mate

but his words came far too late

He fell to my right now out of sight

My nose bled, my lungs about to explode

as I clambered beneath a weighty load

I knew my last moment had come

when I felt the searing pain of the sniper's gun