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Poems From The Front

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shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#1New Post! Nov 15, 2017 @ 05:24:19
This thread is simply to allow people (if they so desire) to post poems written by servicemen...end of.
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#2New Post! Nov 15, 2017 @ 05:25:17
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

- Major John McCrae, May 1915
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#3New Post! Nov 15, 2017 @ 05:42:02
The news is spread far and wide
Another comrade has sadly died
A sunset vigil upon the sand
As a soldier leaves this foreign land

We stand alone, and yet as one
In the fading light of a setting sun
We’ve all gathered to say goodbye
To our fallen comrade who’s set to fly

The eulogy’s read about their life
Sometimes with words from pals or wife
We all know when the CO’s done
What kind of soldier they’d become

The padre then calls us all to pray
The bugler has Last Post to play
The cannon roars and belches flame
We will recall, with pride, their name

A minute’s silence stood in place
As tears roll down the hardest face
Deafening silence fills the air
With each of us in personal prayer

Reveille sounds and the parade is done
The hero remembered, forgotten by none
They leave to start the journey back
In a coffin draped in the Union Jack

- Andy McFarlane
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#4New Post! Nov 15, 2017 @ 05:44:42
The Final Inspection

The soldier stood and faced his God,
Which must always come to pass,
He hoped his shoes were shining,
Just as brightly as his brass.

"Step forward now, you soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"

The soldier squared his shoulders,
and said: "No, Lord, I guess I ain't,
Because those of us who carry guns,
Can't always be a saint.

I never passed a cry for help,
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God, forgive me,
I wept unmanly tears.

If you've a place for me here, Lord,
(It needn't be real grand,
I've never expected, or had too much),
But if you don't, I'll understand."

There was a silence around the throne,
Where the saints had often trod,
As the soldier waited quietly,
For the judgement of his God.

"Step forward now, you soldier,
You've borne your burdens well,
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#5New Post! Nov 15, 2017 @ 05:46:45
"MY PLACE"

I have a special place I go
Whenever I feel all alone
A very special place
That I can call my own

IT stops me feeling lonely
Away from the fear and dread
A place that makes me feel in control
If only in my head

THIS place is a very big rock
At least in my mind
Where I can go and be with friends
That I knew once upon a time

SOME times when I am in there
The door will stay ajar
Just enough to still feel safe
And insulated from the world afar

AT times people think I'm crazy
When they look upon my face
But then they just assume
That I'm in my own space

TO let them in would be tragic
For they couldn't understand
The Demons that I am fighting still
From long ago in a far off land

THE WAR that we were fighting
That left so many DEAD
Still rages deep inside me
Its really messed up my head

I hope that the WAR I am fighting
Will one day come to an end
And I can just live in PEACE
With the understanding of when

I meet up with fellow WARRIORS
Beyond the Pearly Gates
And once again be where I belong
Surrounded by my MATES
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#6New Post! Nov 15, 2017 @ 05:48:59
"SOLDIER"

I was that which others did not want to be.
I went where others feared to go, and did what others failed to do.
I asked nothing from those who gave nothing, and reluctantly accepted the thought of eternal loneliness... should I fail.
I have seen the face of terror; felt the stinging cold of fear; and enjoyed the sweet taste of a moment's love.
I have cried, pained, and hoped... but most of all, I have lived times others would say were best forgotten.
At least someday I will be able to say that I was proud of what I was... a soldier.
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#7New Post! Nov 15, 2017 @ 05:51:36
NO PLACE TO HIDE

Silent and still, the night surrounds
The weary warrior's bed,
While the tumult of the killing grounds
Rages inside his head.

Though long ago and far away,
War spreads its fingers wide;
He feels its fiery touch each day,
Sleep gives no place to hide.

- Lachlan Irvine
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#8New Post! Nov 15, 2017 @ 05:53:56
MORNING STAND-TO

As a way to start the day, it's not much fun
A gentle nudge, a whispered word - "Stand-To!"
A short nap since your two hours on the gun
Just once you'd like to sleep the whole night through.

Darkness makes the jungle a different place
No shades of green, just deep, menacing black;
The waking eyes alert in every face
Daring Charlie to try a dawn attack.

As the rising sun begins to make its mark
By softening the shadows of the night,
The shapes that seemed so sinister and dark
More innocent now in the spreading light.

The stand-down order has at last come through
"Righto you blokes, whose turn to make a brew?"
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#9New Post! Nov 15, 2017 @ 05:55:24
THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER

Here lies a man, a hero to me now
Yet in my eyes still no more than a boy;
No wrinkle on his ever youthful brow
His dreams still filled with life and hope and joy.

Thrust into conflict by the men of hate
Those nameless, faceless architects of war
Whose orders led him to his final fate
The flame of youth extinguished evermore.

But hate can never motivate a man
To sacrifice his own life for a friend;
True heroes ever since mankind began
Have upheld higher virtues to the end.

So when the roll is called somewhere above
Let it be said that this man died for love.
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#10New Post! Nov 15, 2017 @ 06:08:30
"The inquisitive mind of a child"

Why are they selling poppies, Mummy?
Selling poppies in town today.
The poppies, child, are flowers of love.
For the men who marched away.

But why have they chosen a poppy, Mummy?
Why not a beautiful rose?
Because my child, men fought and died
In the fields where the poppies grow.

But why are the poppies so red, Mummy?
Why are the poppies so red?
Red is the colour of blood, my child.
The blood that our soldiers shed.

The heart of the poppy is black, Mummy.
Why does it have to be black?
Black, my child, is the symbol of grief.
For the men who never came back.

But why, Mummy are you crying so?
Your tears are giving you pain.
My tears are my fears for you my child.
For the world is forgetting again.
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#11New Post! Nov 15, 2017 @ 06:17:43
Those heroes who shed their blood and lost their lives, you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.

Therefore rest in peace.

There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side in this country of ours.

You, the mothers who sent their sons from far away countries wipe away your tears, your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace.

After having lost their lives on this land they become our sons as well.

- Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#12New Post! Nov 15, 2017 @ 06:20:05
Life and Soul of the Mess

Take some time every now and then
Think back and say ‘I remember when’
You were as brothers you and they
Sent by your country into the fray

To a land of sun, dried dirt and dust
Where dollars may rent loyalty, but you built trust
Where from flowering death they eek out a living
Or take what they can from whoever is giving

You carried all you needed on aching back
Tabbing mile on mile awaiting the crack
As from a mile away a sniper takes you
Or the land beneath erupts to break you

Now you’re at home and carrying on
While others you knew they’re now gone
Their laughter is missed but their faces you spy
When asleep or briefly out the corner of an eye

So growing older don’t let memories soften
Drink to their names, let them cross your lips often
For all the stone and the brass, it counts for ‘ought
If we forget the names of those that fought.

- John Bailey
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#13New Post! Nov 15, 2017 @ 06:21:45
Taking a Stand

For both the injured and the lost
I ask you to keep count with me
Of all the wars and what they cost
I ask you to be silent with me

Quietly grateful for our lot
As I expect you're as thankful as me
For the health and life we've got
I ask that you wish them well with me

All those still risking their all
And I ask that you remember with me
The names of those that fall
I expect that you are proud like me

Of this great nation of ours too
So enjoying all its freedoms like me
Support those upholding them for you
I hope that you are hopeful like me

That we'll soon bring an end to wars
So you'll have to stand no more with me
And mourning families no different from yours
'Til then be thankful you can stand with me

Thinking of those who now cannot
For standing here today with me
At least we show they're not forgot
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#14New Post! Nov 15, 2017 @ 06:24:10
The men I marched beside

Rain is falling on Tamara
churning red mud all around
and by a green capped djebel*
a platoon has gone to ground.

Each is sleeping in his blanket
hearing not the bugle blow.
Tread you lightly, young Tunisian,
past the men I used to know.

Other comrades see not Etna
in that isle across the sea,
for in the cornfields of Catania
lie the men of Forty-Three.

And the Lower Rhine at Arnhem
flows past many that I knew.
They lie their undefeated,
Oaken-hearted, arrow true.

Parachutes are long discarded
on that silent dropping zone
as the line of march goes onward
through Bruneval and Beaune.

I am hearing dead feet marching
on the road to Oosterbeek.
I hear again the roll call
but the called-for do not speak.

They come crowding in around me
those faces of the bold,
and my strength and resolution
are fortified untold.

The spirit that’s within me,
lifts my head in silent pride
recalling days behind me
and the men I’ve marched beside.
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