In my dreams you yet live.
Smoky tendrils cover our battlefields.
Young men bent and broken before our time.
.
Smiling faces frozen in time, keep some part of my soul still young.
Was it a sword or Whistling Ninety Nine that broke you, and shattered our line?
.
Acidic deathly green fingers caught some of us in those shell holes of Flanders.
Others died in the Levantine with Richard at the gates of Acre, for the simple want of a cup of water.
I know all of my mates, forever young, forever tragic.
.
Proud lions asking for the false wounds of bravery to battered about their brows.
Honor and Courage are two sides of a phony coin, spent carelessly before swine.
Asking and crying out for their first loves, wondering where it all went wrong.
.
Many’s a time the last word they utter is to the Savior of all lost boys…Mother.
Unscrupulous men, and crooked politicians will take us from those that we love.
The clarion rings a false note of duty, stirring gentle soul to defend hearth and home.
.
At the end of the day, tis not king, nor country, nor gold sovereign’s bright, that calls us to the fore.
Orders can make a body move into harms way only so many times.
We do it for the man on our left, and the man on our right.
.
So, may all kings and leaders be damned.
I hope that some day they can see my nightly review.
Dress right Dress! Sharpen up that line! Eyes Front!.
.
We present arms, as we march towards the barrage.
Our badges of courage we carry in our hearts.
The memories of our fallen, keep us going through that long terrible night.
DS Baker
Submitted by dbaker on 14 June 2007 - 8:39pm.
Style / Type:
freeform
(2 votes)
Thank You
Although I have not served in combat. This piece was written about the friends that I lost in the first gulf war. Although they died of some mysterious flu/disease/germ crud…I lost six out of my eight buddies from boot camp.
I am glad that it touched you.
Thank you for your kind comments
-DS Baker
Work, stretch, take risks, visualize your future. Become the poet you have always longed to be. All that is needed is honest effort.-DSB
...
Dave,
That was damn poignant, and for me to review it as a poem would do it and the men you wrote about a grave injustice. I couldn’t heap enough superlatives on this work, it is… amazing and chilling. “At the end of the day, tis not king, nor country, nor gold sovereign’s bright, that calls us to the fore.
Orders can make a body move into harms way only so many times.
We do it for the man on our left, and the man on our right.” Perhaps no other stanza I have ever read has been more stirring. Though in spirit more than tone or cadance, this poem reminds me alot of Tennyson’s “Charge of the Light Brigade.” Poems like this trancend art, and are more felt than understood. God bless and great work.
Thank you Dave
Not just for a courageous and deeply true poem but for introducing me to the works of Wilfred Owen, who I had not read before (immediately Googled his name on reading your poem 8))
The line “We do it for the man on our left, and the man on our right.” Says so much, maybe all, about men in war. Although I have not served in the armed forces I have backed up mates in equally puerile gang battles, none of which I am the least proud of except for being there for me mates.
Cheers
For Wilfred Owen
I can not say anything clever, however I liked this
poem .I like Wilfred Owen it is good that you have
written a poem for him, very good .I really liked
the line honor and courage are two sides of a phony
coin spent carelessly before swine . Lesley
pinksheep