Bang! Bang! Bang!
T'was like a never-ending siren.
With trauma engraved minds,
blood on their hands,
comes bravery
in each man's heart and soul.
The battlefields are their cage,
they got themselves in,
but cannot get out.
Snowflakes sprinkle down from the sky like fallen men,
While the soldiers wait like sitting ducks,
before coming face to face with death again.
Still. Still. Still.
Without the squealing bombs,
and earth shattering shells,
all seemed to be oddly still.
For the first time in forever,
almost as if they were frozen in time.
You could feel the silence
that hung over that wasteland,
on the very night,
of December 24th, 1914.
A mixture between tension, curiosity and confusion,
wafted through the British trenches like incense.
And those three feelings,
were the only things that loomed in the sky,
until an all too familiar tune filled the night...
Sweet, muffled melodys filled the air,
as a German silent night,
was being sung everywhere.
Tranquillity took over each soldiers heart, as they realised in that moment,
It was Christmas days start.
Though they longer for their families,
something felt true,
as German symphonys whispered,
through the chilly night air gloom.
And soon, the Englishmen had all joined in;
sounding somewhat like a broken choir, but to them,
It was amazing.
Something felt right,
something felt fair,
and that was the hope,
they needed to share.
Voices. Voices. Voices.
Bouncing off the walls of each trench,
of both German and Englishmen,
from both sides of the fence.
The song, silent night,
hung in the breeze,
just like twinkling lights,
laced around a Christmas tree.
Loud melodic Voices,
Flooded through the battlefield,
soldiers grinning from ear to ear,
while their hearts sung wonders.
But little were they sure,
that the singing wouldn't be the only alien sound they heard, that Christmas day or more.
Footsteps. Footsteps. Footsteps.
Feet crunching on the crisp leaves.
Englishmen were cautiously fumbling to see out of their trench,
Only to find Germans,
Wearily emerging from their wire.
Every weapon was lowered,
and suddenly,
possible peace approached.
Soldiers then,
from both sides of war,
came out from their place of stay,
and were civil,
for what Christmas they saw.
As dawn broke,
Christmas day approached,
hands were shook,
smiles were shared,
as a glimmer of hope
flew around in the air.
Football, cards, carols and more:
christmas bought them all together,
as snow fell heavy on the floor.
Loyalties didn't count for that day,
however all those hours after,
once that first bomb went off in the distance,
it was like an alarm going off,
the alarm going off and saying
"Wake up! Wake up from this dream, and go back to harsh reality".
And it was safe to say,
that not one of those men wanted to wake up.
But it was not an alarm,
as much as it sent the same message,
It was a warning instead.
A warning that they had to go back to their duties right away.
Smiles, frowns,
and sad looks all around.
Frohe Weihnatchen!
Merry Christmas!
And all went back to their grounds.
A Christmas spirit was spread that night,
which might have been the thing,
to save a mans life.
Back to work,
it was war again,
but they never forgot,
they made a friend.
Whatever the rules,
they knew it felt right.
Silent night.
Silent night.
Silent night.
A peice on the Christmas truce in ww1. May we remember those who lost their lives as we read this, and may they all remain in peice, with pride.