Trench Curse 1918

TRENCH CURSE 1918 BY JOHN M. ARRIBAS Patriotic songs give us reason to cheer Except when “ over there” becomes over here Mounting casualties are easy to explain Men on foot crossing open terrain Synchronized whistles signal the attack Rise out of the trenches don’t look back Charge across no mans land search for the foe Step over the wounded and lifeless lying below Leap into a trench as the enemy runs Shouting comrade, comrade, dropping their guns Run one down, he faces you, a teenager at best You thrust your bayonet into his chest He falls to the ground with a terrified shout You pull your bayonet it doesn’t come out Put your foot on his body try once more It seems harder to pull than it was before Fire several rounds to loosen the hold During training that’s what we were told You cautiously explore each padded siding To ferret out the enemy where he may be hiding Whistles now sound signaling the all clear Now to get the dead and dying out of here If the body is ours we select a spot If its theirs we toss it over the top A three hour truce is signaled by speakers overhead Time for each side to recover the wounded and dead You’re out of the frenzy and calmed down a bit You search for the friends that may have been hit But what you see is the man you ran through He was just doing what he was trained to do Trench(2) His terrified face is etched into your soul That fatal look is already taking its toll What was his name and where was he from I’ve stolen the life from some mothers son Its been forty years since that tragic day That young man is still a teenager today Every so often he races past my eyes Causing a tic and a hopeless sigh He was at my wedding at the end of the aisle He was still terrified lacking a smile At first I saw him nearly everywhere In crowds at ball games at the county fair He was in the audience at my sons graduation But what causes my greatest trepidation Is his presence in nearly all of my dreams That day in the trench is always the scene I’ll never get over it that’s for sure Cause when you feel guilty there is no cure I was just doing my duty as I was trained But that doesn’t stop the memory and pain From reoccurring as epic moments can Like taking the life of another man My hope was time would make it fade away That didn’t happen I’ll have to wait for that day When I cross over the infinite sea I hope he’ll be there to pardon me amplas pecco WE OVERRAN SOME TRENCHES PURPOSELY ILL-FATED THE ENEMY BLEW A DAM AND ALL WERE INUNDATED MOST MEN DROWNED DUE TO THE WEIGHT OF THEIR GEAR WHILE OTHERS DROWNED PANICKED WITH FEAR OTHERS CRAWLED OVER THE TOP OUT OF THE WATER TO BE PICKED OFF BY SNIPERS A MERCILESS SLAUGHTER