Soldat-und-Tod

I stand silent in this place Dirt and blood obscures my face I've shot and cleaved and stabbed and tore But honey, i just can't take it no more I have decided to end it here With no one else to calm my fear This final shot will set my free Heaven, will you wait for me? The memories I've gained from this life Stab me like a serrated knife I can't go on, with what I've done My final performance with an audience none I ask myself why, the question remains But my actions just cannot be explained Can i find my way to the other side? Will an angel come and be my guide? The men i've killed? I can count dozens Brothers, husbands, children and cou

It’s interesting what you notice About people when you know You probably won’t see them in a week Quirks that would have gone unnoticed Now brought to your attention The radioman, who cuts his hardboiled egg Into little slices, like he’s eating shredded ham Or the sniper, who holds his catholic cross And kisses it before every breakfast Or even the Major, who flinches After every loud noise, no matter how benign I don’t know why I remember these But these small, insignificant events Play out in my mind like a picture show As I watch the life fade from their eyes I took an oath at the officer’s course To lead

Tell me young soldier Are you ready to leave? To the adventure that calls? To the land we upheave? Tell me young soldier Are you ready to serve? Will you give for the empire? This land we preserve? Tell me young soldier Are you ready to fire? Will you defend this position? No matter how dire? Tell me young soldier Can you dress a wound? Or will you be there? When the remains are exhumed? Tell me young soldier Are you ready to kill? Can you take another life? For an unnamed hill? Tell me young soldier Can you keep your head down? Will you be killed by the guns? While in a shelled-out town? Tell me young soldier Who is waiting at home? Do

On the Somme machine guns firing Soldiers tangled in barbed wiring The young men stand, their souls are tiring “When are we going home?” Time is waning, growing shorter Men prepare for senseless slaughter Somewhere a young man’s only daughter “I want my daddy back” Thousands fall on blood caked ground Ears are bleeding from deafening sound Of shattered fields that artillery pound “Keep your heads down now, boys!” Step over dead as you run to cover Shot that soldier, now kill the other Out of ammo, they soon discover “They hide like rats in darkness!” In the trench the enemy cowers We f

An old man sits quietly in his quarters, his pipe wafting smoke into the cramped hut, he studies stained maps with tobacco stained fingers and cracked nails, as his Webley that smells faintly of gunpowder lays next to the old map that points out German positions and concentrations, his polished hat hangs haphazardly off the corner of the small table and his most trusted advisor stands by him, ready to assist in any sort of capacity he is deemed responsible for. The man stops his exhausted planning and looks up from the dimly lit table. He wrings his hands and sighs, a short cough spluttering more smoke into the air; he opens his mouth, his wr

A man stands at a grave site, The clouds as grey as stone From this mortal coil, had his older brother flown Poppies line the solemn scene Red as blood in trenches No longer will he play, no more swinging for the fences A Mauser cartridge spelt his doom His head now bore a hole The mark was more than just skin deep, it scarred his very soul Catholic cross upon the dirt The lords embrace he’s in Although he tried his very best, we always carry sin His brother didn’t go to church Not all the time, he feels Overtime on weekends, just for some more meals He always helped the needed Always eased his mothers fears Now the man stoo