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Mar 2012
My friends and I are sitting in this bombed out house
Our rifles rest against the wall
No lamp is lit
As daylight fades the little window frames the moon
We smoke, we read, we write a letter home
We don't dwell on horrors past
Nor on what is yet to come

                                                I won't let my guts gush out
                                                Into foreign mud
                                                Nor die in no man's land alone
                                                I want to make it back to you
                                                I want to make it home

We're winning now, they're on the run
Supplies cut off, they're desperate
They've suffered even more than us
But we have to keep the pressure up
One thing I've learned while I've been here
Don't underestimate the ***

                                                     I've been here such a long time now
                                                     Seen so many good men die
                                                     Killed a good few too
                                                     I know that danger still surrounds us
                                                     Even now I might not make it through

I just need to carry on
Hold on to my life
You know that when I make it back to you
Soon we will be man and wife

                                                      Jack
Inspired by the life of my grandfather, who volunteered to go to France in 1914 with the British Expeditionary Force and survived the entire war. It seems appropriate to re-post this today, on the 100th anniversary of the outbreak. I have posted a sketch on my home page which he drew at the time and was the inspiration for the poem. It is pencil on a post card, now showing its age.
martin
Written by
martin  England
(England)   
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