They lay in fetid mud, covered in congealed blood

All around the trappings of hell did abound

Broken bodies, pallid skin, all had died in a din

Stillness now dwelt in hell´s backyard

As distant guns thundered and continued to roar

A dark tinged sky of cloud and cordite

Drizzled its misery upon the mutilated dead

Rifles as broken kindling lay in squalid slime

Close to the brave now lost to their hellish grave

Freckled wire matted over a tragic scene

Beneath, those whose lives were doomed to die

Helmets, gas masks, guns galore now failed to keep a score

Craters disfigured a muddy hide of lines broken and askew

Fortifications never meant to last had gone in a blast

Smouldering ruins, the staggering wounded

Horses, dogs, casualties too were now human prey

Trees, bare, uprooted, bereft of leaves or branches

Cried to the sky as they too wanted to die

Papers, letters and the like did flutter as distant guns did stutter

Hell had visited this place and left its mark

and despite the day all became dark