"anzac" poems
**In the shadow of Everest people are dying
Crushed in a chaos embirthed from beneath,
Emerged as destructor of temple and Taos,
Emerged as an innocent killer... bequeathed.
History crumbles as heavens roar mightily
Ghorka is dead in an avalanche of rock,
Beggars and potentates crushed in the brickfall
Dharahara’s fall leaves men gaping in shock.
Shuddering mountains in avalanche of free fall
Wails of the stricken as quaking defiles,
Gold topped pagodas and statue of ancients,
Sculpture of lions now a rubble in piles.
Khathmandu in the clasp of calamity
Nightmarish forces arisen from deep,
Grasping the earth in their grip of profanity
Monstrously tearing the bedrock from sleep.
A techtonic ****** of Asia by India
Nepal’s Himalayas ****** to the sky,
Inconsequential, this plight of humanity
Nature proceeds as poor Nepalese die.**
M.
ANZAC Day 25 April 2015
Apr 26, 2015
Apr 26, 2015 at 5:45 PM UTC
I was sent to work at the old Repat.
It was forty years since the war,
Those ancient diggers would sit and swear
At the pain of the limbs they wore,
The wounds would open as years went by,
They’d come for another slice,
That war was never over for them,
And morphine was paradise.
I saw one veteran struggle and curse
As he ripped at the buckles and straps,
The new prosthesis had rubbed him raw
As his knee began to relapse.
He tore the leg from his wounded stump
Sat on his bed, and roared,
Then swung the article over his head
And flung it across the ward.
The others had ducked as the leg took off
And bounced off the opposite wall,
‘I’ll have to report you,’ the nurse exclaimed,
‘It’s a good leg, after all!’
‘You wear it then,’ was the man’s response,
‘For it’s driving me insane,
What would you know of Flanders Fields?
You wouldn’t deal with the pain!’
My job was to settle and calm him down
So I asked him about his leg,
‘When and where did you lose it, Dig?’
The veteran tossed his head.
‘You’ve heard of a place called Flanders Fields
Where the bullets came in like hail?
Well, I was there with the Anzac’s, son,
At a place called Passchendaele.’
‘Our Generals were trying to ****** us,
I swear, on my mother’s head,
They kept on sending us over the top
Until half of the men were dead.
The German gunners would enfilade
As we struggled against the mud,
I’ll never forget the battlefield,
It was spattered with bones and blood.
They’d send artillery shells across
At the height of a soldier’s knee,
We’d watch them come as they parted the grass,
They were Grasscutters, you see!
Well, I was running with bayonet fixed
And praying for God’s good grace,
When suddenly I was lying there,
I’d tumbled, flat on my face.’
‘It’s strange that I never felt a thing,
When the Grasscutter got me,
It took a while ‘til I saw my leg
Was gone, from under the knee.
But that was the end of the war for me,
The end of the life I’d known,
I spent some time back in Blighty, then
I came on a ship, back home.’
I never chided those men in there
Though they’d curse and swear, and roar,
For every man was a hero where
They'd trudged in mud through the war.
That Repat. job was a fill-in job
And I left, still young and hale,
But I never forgot the Grasscutter
Or the man from Passchendaele.
David Lewis Paget
Mar 13, 2014
Mar 13, 2014 at 5:39 AM UTC
ANZAC CHUMS AND THEIR MUMS
In Oz the possum grinds on thorn and gum
Far too stretched to visit mum -
Things are hard outback of Bourke
And there’s no time for anything but work.
But Kiwi possums like to visit ma
With flowers for her crystal jar -
They’ll even take a shopping bag of buds
With some greens and beans and spuds.
In Oz the possum is protected
As indeed might be expected -
Beset by fires and drought and prickles
And parched out creeks that slim to trickles.
But Kiwi possums are heaven sent
To slurp and scoff to heart’s content -
When they dine they have the best
And not surprisingly are deemed a pest.
In Oz a treasure - in NZ an imported glitch
There are mixed opinions either side the Ditch –
Mum’s the word on making possums able
To visit home with veggies for the table.
Nov 13, 2014
Nov 13, 2014 at 7:27 AM UTC
Preparations are gearing up for the iD Dunedin Fashion Show, which this year opens with a tribute to Australasian style on Anzac weekend.
The 120m-long platform of Dunedin's railway station is again the venue for shows on April 24 and 25, which are preceded by the iD International Emerging Designer Awards on Thursday night at the Town Hall.
Saturday night is sold out and about 100 tickets are still available to Friday's show, organisers say.
Labels Carlson, Mild-Red and NOM*d, brands synonymous with Dunedin fashion, were in the original show in a local bar in 2000 and they're still show stalwarts.
Company of Strangers, Charmaine Reveley, DADA Vintage, Storm, Perriam, Deval, GG (from Shanghai), Liann Bellis, BEATS clothing, Jason Lingard and Jane Sutherland are also strutting their stuff this year.
The shows open with a section titled Together Alone, Revisited, put together by Doris De Pont, featuring garments by four New Zealand and three Australian designers shown at an exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria in 2009.
International guest judge Doris Raymond, the star of documentary series LA Frockstars, is also bringing some garments with her for the show.
The owner of vintage emporium The Way We Wore has a fabulous collection of outfits and she will talk about them at an event in the city on Friday.
Six fashion graduate designers from the Otago Polytechnic School of Design will also show their collections in the shows on Friday and Saturday night.
Garments made by the winner of the emerging designer awards are also in the show.
The finalists were selected from nearly 100 entries from seven countries and 14 fashion schools.
There's a strong showing from Australian schools, especially from Sydney, says judge Tanya Carlson.Read more here:www.marieaustralia.com/evening-dresses | www.marieaustralia.com/short-formal-dresses
Apr 15, 2015
Apr 15, 2015 at 10:35 PM UTC
Old soldiers in the firing line,
Community clubbing time,
Let's honour them in rhymes,
Now in the vault of the unleashed,
Their courage released,
For the job, they were the right men,
The flower of past generations,
People to treasure, through the ages,
In theatres of combat, such stages,
Designer beers wanted here,
On Anzac Day, we give them silent cheers.
Apr 24, 2016
Apr 24, 2016 at 3:23 AM UTC
Australia is the lucky country
Lucky, yes we are
Australia is the lucky country
Lucky, yes we are
The luckiest country
Compared to the Middle East
And I know Australians live in poverty
But we have beaches and footy mate
We also have events to bring the families in
To enjoy this wonderful country
Lucky, yes we are
We have loads of helpers
That look after the poor
We also have people
Who show our great bushland
To walk around and explore
Yes we are the lucky country
Compared to the Middle East
We do have our problems
Like a lot of people do
We enjoy the party people
Because we need to have fun
Yes we do oh yeah
We have great tv from our many stations
We bring what we don’t have on tv
To the radio
Because Australia is the lucky country
Lucky, yes we are
We play carols all over the country
And at the carols we collect money
To give to many charities
We go for walks and runs
And that is what we do for fun
And we march every Anzac Day
To honour Australia’s diggers
YouTube keeps the people in touch
Of this great big world
Because Australia really cares for
Other countries and that is why we are the lucky country
Lucky, yes we are
Aussie Aussie Aussie
Lucky yes oh yeah
Jun 6, 2019
Jun 6, 2019 at 8:17 PM UTC
As we commemorate this Anzac Day,
We shall remember them this way,
Forever asleep, young and brave,
Heroes now resting in foreign graves,
We thank them for our freedom today,
Forever asleep, always young and brave.
Apr 20, 2016
Apr 20, 2016 at 1:48 AM UTC
In clear dawn’s prescient light I saw
Integrity of man withdraw,
Withdraw from that integral grace
Illuminated in that place.
A clear blue light in silhouette
Of moon and mountain pirouette,
A truthfulness of stark relief
Quite unencumbered by deceit.
Unencumbered by the paws
Of those who bare discordant claws,
They who twist God’s clear blue light
To manifest their grip on might,
Those who would, quite by perchance,
Enlist oblivion’s nuclear dance.
This hanging crescent moon aloft
Above our mountain’s darkened croft,
Delicately etched in vivid glow
Of promised new dawn’s velvet show…..
Dependant now on exchanged themes
Of thermonuclear warfare’s screams.
But then…..
Old soldiers call from War afar
To we who listen, jaw ajar,
To wisdom earnt by good blood spilt
Be of Field Grey or Scottish Kilt…..
“Fight no more this curse of War”
They, from beyond the grave, implore,
“We sacrificed our youth for thee
So thou might dwell in harmony”
In clear dawn’s prescient light they saw
A slit of sunshine’s open door,
Where sanity, just, could pave the way
For laughter’s peal to save this day.
M.
“Lest We Forget “
ANZAC Day
25 April 2017
HAMILTON, NEW ZEALAND
Apr 24, 2017
Apr 24, 2017 at 9:41 PM UTC
Those who fell at Gallipoli
For those who arrived at Gallipoli, for those who fell at dawn
For those who fell at Gallipoli,
together we shall mourn.
Strong in heart and mind those soldiers had to be,
But they kept our country free,
those who fell at Gallipoli.
Now poppies grow among their graves, those who fell at Gallipoli, those who fell at dawn,
Their memory shall not die, for they shall live on in our hearts,
We will remember them you and I.
By Mollie Spencer
Mar 28, 2018
Mar 28, 2018 at 6:01 PM UTC
Over the last 200 years the Australians and New Zealanders have joined forces in conflict.
We have fought, back to back, against a common foe.
Fighting and dying in battle beside each other...resolute and definate.
We fought as Brothers.
Each year, on the sporting field, we have been bitter adversaries, giving no quarter
But in battle we are ANZACs
....and forever it shall be.
Today is ANZAC Day.
Today we remember those who gave their service and sacrificed their lives ...for us.
As the sun goes down and in the morning....
WE SHALL REMEMBER THEM.
Apr 24, 2013
Apr 24, 2013 at 5:47 PM UTC
In fields of red our soldiers sleep
Their souls in heaven for God to keep
Our freedom comes at such a cost
We will remember the lives they lost
An endless sleep brought on by war
We pray for peace forevermore
But we know a day will come
When we will call our brave and young
To take up arms and defend our land
So we ask for God's mighty hand
Our country's one full of free men
Because of thousands who'll never wake again
So as I watch the red sun set
I Whisper their names lest we forget
Apr 25, 2016
Apr 25, 2016 at 4:34 PM UTC
guess what!, i just found out that john f kennedy died in 1963
and i offer my condolences to you and guess what!
martin luther king died in 1968, i don’t understand but they both died
guess what! mrs baker died and i have no idea who died in the civil war
do you know, know what, who died in the civil war
no, but i can tell you, many people died in the civil war
my reincarnation died in the civil war, learn buddhism
because they will have the answers you will need
guess what! paul berenyi died, that is a shame
i learnt it off the paper back in 1995
guess what! elizabeth montgomery died, and so did agnes moorehead
two TV witches dead, but agnes moorehead became sabrina the teenage witch, ya know melissa joan hart
guess what! richie benaud died, and he is waiting for his next life
you see i have heard about these negative deaths, and i wish you will stop
death isn’t uplifting, it’s negative, ever so negative
i believe in spreading positivity around this world
and talking about these deaths don’t help
we need to keep positive in us, ok, and then he said, guess what
frank sinatra died, but that is a negative thing to say
but i like talking about death, but it’s very negative, ya see, then he said
guess what! robert palmer died, ya know the guy who thought he was simply irreistable into being addicted to love
sure makes your day doesn’t it, she said, no it doesn’t, talking about death is negative, i tell ya
and if you don’t stop talking about death, i will make you next
but guess what! news flash, i like talking about death, i have an uplifting version of death
you see when people die, they come back to life
cause guess what! billy thorpe died, he has been dead for ages, mate, quit talking negative
you need to be positive ya know, you see i will do a giant **** in my living room, i feel lousy
drop the **** in the toilet, feeling much better, you see i can tell you who dies
guess what! trevor barker died, he has been dead for ages, you are a very negative person
guess what! scott mcdonald died, well, you just love being negative
guess what!, christians are kidnappers after your fucken soul, well you are showing me
what happens on youth group, well, i don’t want to know, cause it’s negative, i believe in being a peaceful positive buddhist
people die, they come back to life, people die, they come back to life
you see i go to the phoenix, for the poetry slam, i try and bring back graham kennedy
because guess what! graham kennedy died, i said, mate, he’s been dead for ages
and you mate are being ever so negative, he said, no, death is uplifting, it is uplifting
how you die and then come back to life
guess what! smoky dawson died, but he has been dead for a while
but i saw him at the anzac day march, so television is right yet again
guess what! guess what! guess what! 1 person dies 1 person gets reborn
the circle of life, don’t ya think
Sep 3, 2015
Sep 3, 2015 at 1:38 AM UTC
In the pool of drowning mud
The bullets searching
The rusty wire
Memory of mother faded away
Task at hand
Mother waiting for the call
For the son who never will come home
Father and family
In their heart
Keep the message that never goes away
Apr 26, 2020
Apr 26, 2020 at 5:46 AM UTC
shoulder to shoulder
and yet never more alone
our Anzac boys
strode into a dark unknown
foreign was this beach-head
awful was its face
where few of our Anzac boys
were shown God's goodly grace
in conditions dire they fought valiantly
neath our nation's banner
Private Smith, Private Jones
so too Trooper Tanner
they gave their all for freedom
on that steep unfriendly tor
some of them have bones interred
on that far off shore
yes! we will recall them
to our hearts again
those Anzac boys
who were their nations very best of friends
Apr 24, 2013
Apr 24, 2013 at 12:43 AM UTC
The poor are suffering mate
In the city of Canberra
You see they sit there with hats
Waiting for someone to give 'em cash
You see it is cold in winter
And every day they will suffer
Yeah while the rich are drinking
Wine and talking
I know it is there perogative
To go out to people's houses
While the homeless are suffering every day then
The rich will take their skis
Down the snow
Which is fun but the poor are colder than them
You see they have hot soup
Cause it is a necessity
But the homeless only get it
Once a week
And fat people eat up their sugar
While the homeless are
Having problems every day
They want to have heaps of food
But they have to find a open shelter
I think people are fools ya see
Because they don't give a ****
For the poor
They sit in their rich houses
Saying **** the poor 3 times very fast just to show us
They don't give a ****
You see on Anzac Day
As all the diggers march
Saying the war was a bad place to be
But each homeless person
Suffers every day and night
And as they march they feel like yelling out hey diggers aren't suffering mate like we are suffering now
You don't care for our welfare at all
You see as we walk in the streets of this cold city
We see suffering in the hands of the poor
Nobody really cares unless
They are wanting these people to leave them alone
I always give money to the homeless because wheni I
Go to my nice warm house
There are loads of people without
The right wing government doesn't really care and
The rich who have everything
Really don't care despite taking
5 cents out of 1 million each week
You see the homeless are suffering mate
And we need to help them
Even if they buy ***** with it
Who flaming well cares
Just as long as they get what
They want
You see the people who
Complain drink as well
So why do they complain about
The homeless doing it
No let's help each homeless person 1 at a time
Because they deserve more than people with houses
Aug 9, 2017
Aug 9, 2017 at 6:44 AM UTC
I am the Unknown Soldier -->
Whether you believe me or not is beside the point.
I accepted the Role and have been trying to fulfil my Duty for 15 years;
Until recently, I've been unsuccessful.
However, I'm a sometimes fast Learner
And this Time round - this Hyper-Real Time round -
I'm pretty sure I've executed my Duty Professionally,
As befits an ANZAC.
I've tried several Battles and lost,
But this recent War (longer than I was led to Believe)
Seems, to me, to be the coup-de-grace,
So intricately woven and administered with utmost confidence;
I've adapted and learnt, absorbed info and fired it off;
Developed my strategies within the conceptual system
And deployed my tactics efficiently,
And, I believe, Lethally,
According to the Laws as they stand.
I've been wounded before and was reluctant to follow suit,
But, when the time was right --> and I was certain -->
I tried to conduct my War with Cold Intelligence and Logical Precision,
Without the Emotive influences that clouded my Judgements previously.
In my Defence, this War was much bigger than I anticipated -->
It's all fine to Declare one's self World War III,
But I didn't realise it would involve other Universes -
That was unanticipated and challenging.
Luckily for me, my sixth sense -
My sense of Humour - was well Disciplined and accommodating,
Rising to the occasion.
Moreover, the Lore I employed was well-honed -->
Sharp and relatively easy to engage and implement.
I tried to keep casualties to a minimum -
Namely myself, and any Fool stupid enough to Conceptualise Themselves.
It helped that I conceived the War
In concepts revolving around what my missus would want of me -
Under the false presumption that I actually had a missus at the time.
Fortunately, I've a good imagination for the Everyman.
I just calculated and Conducted the Campaign according to simple Laws of
"Who's washing the dishes?" and "Who's looking after the kids?"
[Of all the species in the Multi-verse, go figure Humans (that is: **** sapiens sapiens) were the one's to invent and refine the Art of Warfare (A Gentleman's Game of Lethal = Serious ^2). Killing just comes naturally to us! And we often get a perverse sense of pleasure at watching things die. Go figure.]
Mar 8, 2014
Mar 8, 2014 at 3:10 AM UTC
Smoky Dawson sings up in the afterlife having fun
At rings of Saturn
I am sitting up here enjoying the night
Having so much fun
You ser every day I float around
Thinking about how to enjoy the day
You see down on earth, I walked around
Doing my every day things, and
In hindsight, man I really enjoyed that
Yes, I was so cool, I had my very own show
Which everyone like so much
And before I left, I marched on Anzac day
In the city of Sydney
But now nothing can happen
I can't suffer from a heart attack
Or stroke, or get robbed by baddies
You see, any robber that comes up here
We just blast then back,
You don't have to listen to protocol here
No, you don't at all
When you want to play cricket
And can't find the ball
You don't need to look further, cause
You just zap it in your hand
You see this club I am in right now
The club called Rings of Saturn
I come here every time I want and
Everyone claps me, oh yeah
I love my cricket and I bought that to Saturn
And it was very fun, yes, oh yeah
Now there is cricket every Sunday night
And sometimes Tuesday as well
So when the cricket is over, yes we all went
To Rings of Saturn or Jupiter Moon
And we'll celebrate like crazy, man
We will have so much fun
See you later, I am Smoky Dawson
You've been wonderful
Bye
Sent from my iPhone
Jul 30, 2015
Jul 30, 2015 at 4:45 AM UTC
Regimental Square, Sydney
ANZAC Day, 2017
I thought "I'll march this Anzac Day,"
To Sydney thus I'll make my way.
But then, to set my medals straight,
I pause a moment at my gate
To ponder 'neath the starry sky
On where I'm going to and why.
To there, the Square on George Street.
The place where all we blokes do meet.
To greet once more to have a say,
Gathered there on Anzac Day,
To think for moments in that Square
About the men no longer there.
No longer there but always there
These ghostly memories on the Square.
Their presence felt as we give thanks,
Shuffling, murmuring in their ranks,
And as the bugle calls last post
We proudly stiffen with that host.
Standing tall with all those men
Who link our presence now with then;
Their bayonets, bullets, marching feet
Providing terms on which we meet:
Our bridge, our nexus, common ground
For sharing with them that sweet sound
Which gently fades away.
Feb 24, 2019
Feb 24, 2019 at 2:42 AM UTC
Sons and daughters of New Zealand Soil
Buried far away in strange lands
We stand here at dawn on this day
In the towns where you grew up but never grew old
To remember you and your sacrifice
You did not grow old so we could
Apr 24, 2018
Apr 24, 2018 at 3:50 PM UTC
For those men and women now silent
who stood in the cold night
To those who combed the deserts and those
who gave their lives
For those who fought shoulder to shoulder in fears and blood
And danced with death in chilling dawns
who froze in winters bitter breath
For those who laid in the trenches who whispered of peace
and muttered of hopes and home to be
Right nor wrong holds no place on this day,
For thee stepped up, for thee stepped forward
For those who chose to defend and those who didn’t this country I call home
── And we shall remember all of thee
For those men women and children who ran from bombs
For those who sat in air raid shelters huddled together
heads bowed in prayer who whimpered charred
and shook with fear
For the eyes that witnessed the fires
that consumed homes in its wake
The agonized violet waiting,
the smell of streaming fires and flesh across the skies
The piercing sirens and bombs exploding in the night
To those who carved out hardships and rations
To those who gave when there was none
For those who lay unnamed in silent graves
I give to thee all names on this dawn
── For without your lives given and taken I would have none.
To those who starved and were plagued in poor health,
I give thanks today for the medicines and hospitals
I thank thee for my life to sit in silence and for the abundances
For my choices to eat food and drink clean water
For the clear skies and this beautiful life.
── For my democratic rights were given to me
For the democracy to choose and for the freedom
And those who stand today shoulder to shoulder
Army, Navy, Air Force, and our four legged friends
“We Serve” in naming but a few
Starched on this day are uniforms, medals and buckles sparkling boots spit polished to gleam
For those now grey in repose in chairs and aided to stand to attention to salute comrades fallen
To the fallen thee died not in vain not through these eyes
Tis we who salutes each of thee in thanks on this day
── our day of Remembrance.
©ASPAR (A Sol Poet Arnay Rumens) 2017
May 9, 2017
May 9, 2017 at 7:55 PM UTC
I say thanks though it's not enough
To the war torn, the weary, the fearful, the tough.
To those who returned and to those who have died.
To those shunned at home and to those met with pride.
Our lives of freedom, joy and vice,
gifted at immeasurable price.
Lest we Forget
Apr 24, 2018
Apr 24, 2018 at 5:56 PM UTC
I stood in the cold light of dawn at this mornings' ANZAC service in Cambridge, NZ, remembering, respectfully, my father who served with the Australian forces in the Middle East and New Guinea in the Second World War, ….and shared, in sombre surrounds and Autumn tones, just such a sentiment with 700 silent, like minded people who intoned together,
"LEST WE FORGET".
M.
25 April 2018
Apr 24, 2018
Apr 24, 2018 at 9:15 PM UTC
We stood
on the driveway today
at dawn
Candles in hand,
as the boy down the road
played The Last Post,
imperfectly but with
such a beautiful heart
We stood
on the driveway today
With rosemary
for remembrance
and red poppies too
Pinned to our chest.
as birds flew over head
We stood and remembered
the sacrifice and courage
We stood and remembered
those who did not return
those who did but left
brothers and mates behind
Those who fell,
those who returned injured
In body or mind.
The dawns gentle light
watching over us all
as we looked to
the left and the right
to see neighbors all
Standing in their driveways
Gifting our diggers
the respect they are due
for the service they gave
to the countries they love
We stood and gave thanks
as the last trumpet note died
and the kookaburras called
Australia the nation stood tall
Apr 24, 2020
Apr 24, 2020 at 8:50 PM UTC
Standing on my driveway
Gazing left and right
Thinking of the diggers
Who left their homes to fight
Thankful I can stand here
Proud as I can be
Of men and women’s sacrifice
Made for you and me
To be free
To stand on our driveway.
Apr 25, 2020
Apr 25, 2020 at 10:21 AM UTC