The Poems of War

This is a small collection of Poems written by me about the War and mainly about World War 1. The main theme of this is the human mind and the affects war has on it.

SOLDIER TOYS

As the crowd cheers them soldiers on

The Green Boys march down the high road

Their trousers and khaki forms crisp

Their boots a clacking on the street

Marching stiff backs and legs a toy

Their mothers cry with saddened joy

 

Their fathers approve with a nod

As the youth and laughter march off

To the banners of the army

For the final glories of war

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lonely Corpse

The first man to die

The hardest experience

The lonely corpse floats

Into the crystal waters

And the corps breaks vow

Etched to leave no man behind

Yet waves reclaim him

And the wind blows chilly breeze

Just another number

Among the millions more

We expendables

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The First Frontier

“Land.”

The waves

Corpses float

Down the beach

Bullets spray the surf

Smashing into soft flesh

Throats parched scream carnage and death

As red stains the sand and water

Heads down advanced the boat soldiers

Rushing into the valley of death

Craters become homes to the doomed soldiers

Underneath the valley of rifles

The broken men mourn their comrades

And with bitter taste in mouth

They fight on grimly

Not for country

Nor friendship

Survival

End

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Dead Man

On the Battlefield the Dead-Man Reaps,

Through the blood, the bodies and the beats

Ever onwards through wire he creeps

All night and day he patiently waits

Until someone makes fatal mistakes

He quickly grabs hold and never shakes

With his grip iron he claims his prize

For those left who are counted lucky?

Onwards they trudge through mud and fire

 

For these men have faced the Reaper

And from now to the end do they march

Their Spirits broken beyond recall

A cross and a hole dug for them all

For they know the enemy and wait

That none can escape the grasp of fate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Old Breed

Standing side by side

Are the Old Breed

Guns in hands and bayonets slung

They charge with half hearts

And survive to see the day through

They are broken spirits in a broken land

They fight without cause

They kill without reason.

 

And death reaches them all

And they welcome it

For if there is a hell

It would be a paradise

As nothing can compare

To the glories of war,

 

The new ones come rolling in

Their boots scrubbed and their khaki clean

They hum the tune of patriots

For they have not yet to experience

The first bomb or bullet

Standing in front of them

Are the Old breed

Old men with broken backs

Though none of them are old,

 

When death reaches for them all

They will welcome it

For if there is a hell

It would be a paradise

As nothing can compare

To the glories of war,

 

The first bomb hits and the new ones go running

They scream and they hide

From the falling death that lights up the sky

The dark twilight is lit up

With the fires of fury

And the roar of death

They cower in their holes

They gnash their teeth and pray,

 

But death reaches them all

And they welcome it

For if there is a hell

It would be a paradise

For nothing can compare

To the glories of war,

The Old Breed looks on with troubled eyes

On the broken bones and corpses

That was once the youth of the world

Graves could not compare

Nor hold those died

And those that survive weep and scream

For they now have joined the ranks

Of the Old Breed,

 

For death reaches them all

And they welcome it

For if there is a hell

It would be a paradise

For nothing can compare

To the glories of war,

 

Side by side once stood fathers

And brothers and friends

Now they stand in hollow graves

Or holes dug in the ground

And the graves swing their guns

Onto their shoulders and bear their packs

And march on through the lines

And back into hell they call home

 

But death reaches them all

And they welcome it

For if there is a hell

It would be a paradise

For nothing can compare

To the glories of war,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aliens

Death is all they thought of

But now the time has come

Kings and queens have rejoiced

And the big Fat Man sings

People in the street shout

For the war is finished

 

The soldiers crawl out of their holes

And depart from the broken world

That they had once called home

The soldiers have no hate left

Nor do they have any love left

Broken boys in broken bodies

Are counted the lucky ones

For they crawl upon their friends

 

Their CEO’s shout and scream

But the soldiers cannot be joyed

They are now living corpses

And the crowds stare as they stumble on

Down the road of victory

They stare through sullen eyes

At the society that condemned

A whole generation to death

 

Wives come to embrace their husbands

But none can be found

Children try to find their fathers

And some find the newly cripples

Brothers, uncles, friends

All buried in upturned graves

Forever forgotten for what they did

Those that survive are strangers

Forever in the eyes of the judges.

End

Author's Note

These are different types of poems included such as Haiku and a certain poetic writing styled I made

Reviews

[Glen Yumang Manese]

Quite a collection here of the war...you weave a story like feel in the whole development of this...as the march off to the conflict and then the first sight of death...and on wards into the theme...you give each read something to think about in the lines...forge a bond between what was then...and what has become with the lines...the reality of conflict...is never easy and the price for peace is forever fleeting...

[Fabian G. Franklin]

You did a terrific job on this. I like the concentration on sentiment and battle building your oeuvre of war. The different styles implemented in the arrangement seem to strengthen the entirety.