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1916 Poems

Firing Squad 1916

Another dawn moment
Another dawn crime 
Another act of violence
In a violent desperate time.
The firing squad paraded
On the killing ground
Every rifle charged but
One with a blank round.

They carried out the victim
Tied him to a chair
Filled full of whiskey
Just to get him there.
As one the rifles fired
On the officer’s shout
And then the firing squad
Marched off and fallen

Categories: 1916, anger, military, murder, world
Form: Rhyme

Somme 1916

Look at Tommy go
Watch him fall in neat khaki rows
Bravely led
Tommy bravely bled
20,000 went over the top
20,000 lay dead

Categories: 1916, war, world war i,
Form: Verse

Seth S Gidley 1832-1916

Seth S. Gidley

1832-1916

I will never forget the rain that winter,
And the landslide that still stains my grave.
An evil cursed wind it was, 
Lacerating the drenched cliffs 
And descending gullies of Rubio Canyon,
With wailing sheets of raining hell!
My friends, as long as this life of ours, 
Continues with its temperate turning,
You and I shall never see

Categories: 1916, storm,
Form: Epitaph

Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry

Anna Pearl Longman 1900-1916

Anna Pearl Longman

1900-1916

Dewey Hicks truly loved me.

Loved me as Mark loved Cleo,

Loved me as Pyramus loved Thisbe.

We took many a determined stroll,

With hands entangled delightedly,

Down the cool expectant streets,

Of this quiet Quaker town,

Across the strident fields at noon time,

Seeking a shady spot under the sun.

Happily we found one,

In the still sullen afternoon,

Of my final day

Categories: 1916, love,
Form: Epitaph

Rosie Ortiz 1916-1936

Rosie Ortiz

1916-1936

The stars are my friends.
They know of my many secrets.
They remember my private musings.
The stars cried tears for me.
They placed fragrant roses upon my bosom.
I sought to comfort them in their grief.
I tried to hold them close in my embraces.
Nightly now, I see them in my gazes.
Midnight now, I hear their muted whimperings.
What can

Categories: 1916, death,
Form: Epitaph

Ivey Walker 1887-1916

Ivey Walker

1887-1916

Verily, verily, my friends!

You are all dead now.

So I can speak candidly.

I found out,

When my ripe red rose bloom 

Opened early, mysteriously, 

Wantonly, as with all crazed flowers,

Drunk with the wine of forbidden delights.

I found out,

There is no real meaning in life.

Except in the insatiable passions 

Of the hopelessly human heart.

Money. Politics. Education.

Friendships, Status.

Categories: 1916, death,
Form: Epitaph

Harry Boatman 1879-1916

Harry Boatman

1879-1916

It is true my friends.

A man thinks of many things

While on his deathbed.

A man remembers and reflects and responds.

He responds, as with a child, to

The insistent pleadings and proddings of the wall clock,

Responds and obeys, as with a woman expecting, to

The cosmic commands of the moody evening tides.

The incredible colossal circling globe, of

Spasm and

Categories: 1916, death, jesus,
Form: Epitaph

Leander Skumfeldt 1864-1916

Leander Skumfeldt

1864-1916

Truly my friends

Dying was my greatest fear, while alive.

My most dreaded

Most detested of future experiences.

Dying, finally, was my greatest achievement

My greatest joy!

My highest calling!

The summit of my scant human existence!

Old Whittier town,

I have missed you indeed,

Have missed the bumpy rides by wagon and horse

To Los Coyotes,

Have missed the starry nights of suave embraces

In Sycamore

Categories: 1916, death,
Form: Epitaph

1st July 1916

Brother, Brother
Father, Son
Nephew, Cousin
Lay as one.

Some together
Some alone
Some are named
And some unknown.

Categories: 1916, war
Form: Light Verse

Passchendale: 3rd Battle of Ypres, 1916

Even the dead reject this blasted earth.

The ground, such as it is,
Is freshly Antidiluvean,
The corpses swim within its tumbled, heaving masses
Blood and mud the mortar
Holding the chaos together.

The sun is weak,
Ashamed to break the haze
To bring to light the obscenities transpiring here.

The whistles blow
The troglodytes emerge
From their respective holes,
Staggering towards one another
Through watery craters
Over the

Categories: 1916, death, fear, history, places,
Form: Free verse

That Next Place (Eulogy For (Lolo) Major Roberto Inigo 1916-2006)

There is a kingdom inside all of us,
That follows us wherever we go,
It was God that put us here,
It is God that takes us back,
We don’t know when, we don’t know how,
Our beloved Lolo, will take our love and our memories along with him to heaven…

There is a soul inside all of us, 
That tells

Categories: 1916, adventure, devotion, inspirational, life,
Form: Free verse