SCREAMING SHELLS.

 

Screaming shells

A sea of mud

A living hell

Where the good died young

The stench of death forever hung

Over trenches

Filled with broken men

With sightless eyes

Who remember when

The sun shone,

And birds soared

Now freedom’s gone

And cannons roar.

The sky rains death.

Mustard gas

Steals every breath.

Lungs burning

From the deadly smoke

Barbed wire rips,

Young soldiers choke.

Sighing  liquid sighs

They die

Without dignity, without glory

But back home it’s a different story

They are heroes,

The cream of the crop

Giving their all,

Going over the top

Fighting for freedom,

Dying proudly for peace

Not running shell shocked,

Craving blessed release

To become a brilliant white cross

In a strange land

Each epitaph simply

“A soldier”

Who came here as a boy

But died like a man.

 

© By: - Pete Slater.    2014.