Best Germans Poems
Shrill whistle blew as we crossed over the wire
Charged at the Germans who opened fire
Those who had run up ahead
Fell first; now lay dead,
I felt fear,
Dread,
Death was near,
Puddles had turned red,
Run zig zag, my friend had said,
Numb my mind Lord, it's all I desire
Shrill whistle blew as we crossed over the wire.
Written 16th July 2020
For Anderee Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Joseph May.
WORLD WAR 11 THROUGH THE EYES OF MY MOM
POEM NO. 1 OF TRILOGY
World war 11 was nearing its end,
The Nazis losing ground
In Russia, been driven out of Moscow,
Everywhere snow bound,
Dying like flies because of the bitter cold,
No Food, no shelter, just attack after attack by
The Russians, the bold!
Meanwhile, the whole of Europe
Glued to their radio,
Listening to how the allies
Were pushing the enemy back,
The morale of the people was
Beginning to crack,
It was time, enough was enough,
War was no fun,
The Greek folk were done!
My mum and her friend next door
Would visit each other,
Warned so often by my grandfather
And her friend’s brother,
Beware, the march of the Nazi boot,
Their knock on your door,
No reason required , they would just shoot
Or else men dragged out to be shot,
Because a Nazi soldier was found dead
Revenge to the Nazi’s was sweet,
They had taken the Greeks peoples means
Their bread
For over four years,
The Greeks had shed many tears.
Leaving wives, daughters, sisters bereft to pine,
The Nazi’s war crimes were not ‘klein’!
No light
At night,
To show through their curtains,
So blankets hung up in fear
Of their lives
The Nazis fearless
Cared not who survives!
The sound of gunshots was an everyday thing,
For every Greek shot, the church bells would ring!
The Greek underground
Was profound,
Working with the French, they made victory sound.
The allies were advancing
And the Germans retreating,
Small pockets of them stayed behind,
They had to surrender, or die,
As the British troops marched through the streets
Liberating Greece, A child beats
On his drum,
His mom thankful the good guys have come!
So many cheers
The Greek peoples tears,
Had rained down for years.
Athens the capital of Greece was now free,
In the name of The Father,The son, and The Holy Spirit,
All made the sign of the cross, the Holy Three
The date October nineteen forty four
The fear of the Nazi boot at their door,
No more!
WALES 1 GERMANY didn’t
The Germans take great pride
In long words measured by the clock
But can they compete when vied
With Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
The GDR put up a wall
in ‘61 because
they wanted West Berlin kept out.
A wall of shame it was!
In fact, the West more easily
could travel all about
while Eastern Germans were the ones
from freedom routes locked out.
The wall was guarded. Some were killed
while struggling to flee.
The Cold War only made folks yearn
more strongly to be free.
To Gorbachev, one president
implored: Tear down that wall!
It wasn’t too much longer that
it would begin to fall!
I felt the joy they felt abroad
when crumbling had begun.
November ninth, in ‘89
Berlin again was one!
At
Dunkirk,
where thousands
of stranded men
lined a bloody beach,
hope was draining with each
air strike delivered by the
unrelenting Germans’ aircraft.
Cold, starved, and injured men watched from shore -
their few rescue ships being bombed and sunk.
How must they have felt knowing their homeland
was so close – and yet so far away?
Horrific days passed when at last
brave civilians came with boats,
so it was that ten times
the number of those
not expected
to live were
instead -
SAVED.
Aug. 16, 2017: Double Etheree written for
JPContest 6: WAR AND HEROISM Contest
From Wikipedia:
The Dunkirk evacuation, code-named Operation Dynamo and also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, was the evacuation of Allied soldiers during World War II from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, in the north of France, between 26 May and 4 June 1940.
The operation commenced after large numbers of British, French, and Belgian troops were cut off and surrounded by German troops during the Battle of France. In a speech to the House of Commons, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called this "a colossal military disaster", saying "the whole root and core and brain of the British Army" had been stranded at Dunkirk and seemed about to perish or be captured.
On the first day only 7,669 men were evacuated, but by the end of the eighth day, 338,226 soldiers had been rescued by a hastily assembled fleet of over 800 boats. Many troops were able to embark from the harbour's protective mole onto 39 destroyers of the British Royal Navy, 4 Royal Canadian Navy destroyers,] and civilian merchant ships, while others had to wade out from the beaches, waiting for hours in shoulder-deep water. Some were ferried to the larger ships by what came to be known as the little ships of Dunkirk, a flotilla of hundreds of merchant marine boats, fishing boats, pleasure craft, yachts, and lifeboats called into service from Britain. In his We shall fight on the beaches speech on 4 June, Churchill hailed their rescue as a "miracle of deliverance".
Let me tell you a sad story, a true story . . .
In another time, under the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi
Party, millions deemed undesirable were murdered, including children,
imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps or were
shot, or hanged. The first exterminations of prisoners took place in the
month of September, 1941. Those not killed in the gas chambers died
of starvation, forced labor, disease, self inflicted death, and medical
experiments. Prisoners were forced to staff the gas chambers. After they
were dead the bodies were burned in ovens or tossed into pits like garbage.
They had stripped them of their clothes, stripped them of all dignity.
Piles of shoes, clothing, eyeglasses, suitcases even baby things taken.
Today those things are in museums to honor forever the millions of dead.
Hundreds of Germans staffed the camps but only 12% have been convicted
of war crimes. Auschwitz was liberated on January 27, 1945 but most of
the population had been evacuated and sent on a death march. All this,
was in another time. Hopefully the world has learned from this horrific
time in history. Black and white pictures of unimaginable scenes are
witness to what happened during the years 1933 to 1945. But the scenes
I see on the news seem that the world has not learned the lesson well and
leave me weeping and weeping for those who suffer.
I saw an image
of a women with children-
death their destiny
____________________________
July 14, 2016
Poetry/Narrative/Senryu/Weeping Still
Copyright Protected, ID 16-808-673-07-14
All Rights Reserved. Written under Pseudonym.
Submitted to the contest, Any Poem Written in 2016
sponsor, Laura Loo
Third Place
Parents so proud four sons they raised
From the Highlands of Scotland in the pre-war days
On their crofts they worked morning till night
Unknown to them then of a future fight
The Germans have invaded a country so free
Poland was taken, the world shaken visually
Britain declares war as our men enlist
To rid the enemy as the fighting shifts
Europe's engulfed in a feverish war
Many are dying to comprehend what for
Four brothers sign up to fight
Soon a mother will pray every night
Campaigns they fight in, these theatres of war
Witnessing horrors never seen before
In their garden at home on the family crofts
Lies a bed of roses with petals so soft
Then one day with a passing glance
A pink rose dripping red in deathly stance
Their mother turns to the gate she looks
Telegram in hand from the postman she took
With trembling hands she opens with care
Upon reading the message in tear laden stare
Their eldest son in Africa was lost
As many many others deaths global cost
Every day as she passes the rose
It's pink petals bloom her tomorrow's fear grows.
.
Young Germans on the wrong side of a wall.
Imagine, if you can, their awful dread!
Before that great monstrosity can fall,
young Germans on the wrong side of a wall,
knowing the cost of freedom is not small,
climb up that wall, but soldiers shoot them dead.
Young Germans on the wrong side of a wall.
Imagine, if you can, their awful dread.
A short time later, many miles away,
a barrier is safely being crossed.
Youngsters jump a tall fence, but it’s child’s play.
A short time later, many miles away,
no need to tremble or to think to pray,
these kids have no inkling of freedom’s cost.
A short time later, many miles away,
a barrier is safely being crossed.
3/21/2016 for the Pick a Theme Poetry Contest of craig cornish
Based on scenes from the movie: Bridge of Spies
The air was brittle with the cold
mud made life so very hard to bare.
Came to mind that maybe xmas is soon
Remembers roaring fires and christmas fayre
was so cold in the trenches
enemy not so many yards away,
trying to remember if its the twenty fifth
I think it's Christmas day
can hear the sound of music
soldiers singing for all their might,
we joined them in a rendering
of the carol Silent Night.
I peeped out of the bunker
to see the enemy doing the same,
we both held up a white flag
with a makeshift ball we had a game.
these were our enemies
yet human too
we can forget it for awhile
having fun is the right thing to do
this really happened in World War 1
at the end of the evening, went our own way
Christmas is a day to rejoice
to live to fight another day.
Orig penned 26/11/2015
The unofficial truce took place on December 24, 1914, in the trenches around Ypres.
It started with German soldiers putting decorations up around their trenches and singing Christmas carols, including Stille Nacht - Silent Night. British sang O come all ye faithful
A German looked over the trench - no shots - our men did the same, and then a few of our men went out and brought the dead in (69) and buried them and the next thing happened a football was kicked out of our Trenches into no man's land this is how Germans and English played football.
All were in my eyes heroes.
"
True Christmas Miracle True Story Full version written by Wendy Horder. 2020
Huddled in muddy trenches, the soldiers heard an eerie sound.
Troops were English, French & Belgians, and as they looked around,
The sound was coming from the German enemy lines just 50 yards away.
It was singing, and the German soldiers were approaching on that day.
It was the twenty fourth of December nineteen fourteen.
Between France and Belgium, The Western Front, was the scene.
As Germans left their trenches a cry of “Merry Christmas” could be heard.
Our solders could only watch without saying, even one word.
The German solders looked so jovial, it didn’t seem to be a trick,
Our soldiers hesitated, slowly coming out, their actions were not quick.
Soon they were striding up to the oncoming soldiers, accepting their invite.
The beautiful singing drew them in, even though they feared it wasn’t right.
There was laughing and joking, and they all exchanged gifts sent from home.
Seemed all men were the same, didn’t matter from where they roam.
They smoked and showed each other photos of their children & wives.
For a short time, they were comrades not one bit afraid for their lives.
As night fell, drowned in soft moonlight, German carols filled the air.
For the first time since the war began, each soldier felt comfort there.
Laughter resounded, and the allies began O Come All Ye Faithful, in tune.
Germans sang the same Hymn, in Latin Adeste Fideles, under the moon.
I wonder if it crossed their minds “Just what are we fighting for?”
How extraordinary, enemies singing together a carol in the middle of a war.
By morning gifts of cake, smokes and clothes were exchanged by each side.
Men chatting as a magician and a juggler were enjoyed, with eyes open wide.
A barber in civilian life, gave haircuts. Soldiers had notes they addressed,
Hoping to be taken to their loved ones in France and England in the west.
Soccer broke out. The game went hours, that history making Christmas day.
Soldiers on both sides spent time burying their comrades, to their dismay.
Soldiers who had been killed in fighting that preceded that wonderful truce.
A truce that should be an example of what we humans can willingly produce.
A true show, that men aren’t killing machines, everyone, a husband or a son.
A true Christmas Miracle from the bloody chapters of World War One.
I'm writing this poem in the last days of 2018. The government of the United States is shut down in a fight over the building of a border wall. I am reminded of another border wall that was erected during my lifetime.
In 1961, East Germany built a wall
Of concrete, barbed wire, and steel
Ninety-six miles around East Berlin
At the cost of a bit less than four million dollars
And a bit more than 200 lives.
Intended to stem the flood of East Germans
Seeking freedom to prosper in the West.
A young and inexperienced President Kennedy
Didn't comprehend why East Germany
Needed a concrete wall
When it already had
An Iron Curtain.
In 1989 the Berlin wall was torn down in a frenzy
Of sledge hammers and bulldozers.
Only remnants of it now remain - mostly in museums.
East Germans celebrated and rebuilt their lives.
The reunited Germany flourished
And joined other nations in a united European future.
Why do we think that our wall will have a different legacy?
Hello there, what is your name?
Do you like to play games?
What do you do for fun?
Play checkers, maybe run, Or dance, or just play?
I can’t remember a day.
Where I could run and play.
I don’t even remember my last meal.
Just rotten scraps and potato peels.
I don’t even know my name.
It really is a shame.
I’m just these digits.
That were painfully stitched,
Into my small arm.
I was born into a world of harm,
Pure insanity.
From which I couldn’t flee.
Mommy said it was because we were Jews you see.
And for some reason the Germans hated us,
All those soldiers did was beat and yell at us.
Then one day.
They took mommy away.
I looked for her.
Longed for her.
She was my only friend.
Then a soldier showed me her end.
One day when the smoke drifted by.
In the unbearable heat, of the unforgiving sky.
The stench was awful.
As it filled and swelled my small nostrils.
It smelled more than the corpses did.
All grimy and gross, as some of us slid
Them into the fire.
Their ashes flew up, higher… and higher,
Along with my mother they were free…Forever….
She was gone, forever….
The one I needed more than ever.
Now I, had to be clever.
I had to be smart.
To survive became an art.
A skill….
Some of us stole, some would kill.
For extra clothes, an extra meal,
No one should experience the pain we feel.
That we felt.
But we dealt,
With what we were given,
As we looked to our Ha’Shem in Heaven.
But the eight year old girl that you see,
Yes this is me.
Stripped naked from head to toe,
All my bones show,
Through my thin
Pale, unhealthy skin.
I’m horrible to look at I know.
But what I resemble, what I show.
Is what happens when certain people,
Become irrational, their ideas unreal.
All because of hate, and hate alone,
You are shown,
What no one wants to see.
The result of hatred, and the result is me
We stood hand over heart as the flag was unfurled
We were sheltered from the real world
All men are created equal is what they did teach
Never realizing, they don’t practice what they preach
Who said poor? We were rich beyond our dreams
Working to make ends meet, endlessly, it seems
There were Italians and Jews, Lithuanians and Greeks
Puerto Ricans and Poles, Germans and Dutch
No matter what your nationality or color was
We were neighbors. So, it didn’t matter much
I have memories of neighbors walking in our front door
Nobody knocking, just dropping in
I have memories of children playing on the parlor floor
Nobody judging the color of skin
Our riches were neighbors. Affluence carried no weight
We were sheltered from bigotry, sheltered from hate
God bless the children who knew neither hatred nor fear
God damn the people who brought those things here
When there is acceptance beyond what the eyes see
Then perhaps we can call this the land of the free
When there is truly no master and truly no slave
Then perhaps we can call this the home of the brave
We need to see the unity we’ve not had in the past
If we continue to hate, our country can’t last
If the American people can stand side by side
Then we can restore our American pride
When we stand together, again we’ll be strong
And we can be sheltered from all that was wrong
White stars, red and white stripes.
Blue for loyalty.
Waving in the wind, instilling pride.
Reminding us of pledge.
Apple pie, Chevrolet, John Wayne.
Viet Nam, Gulf War,
Freedom of speech, freedom riders,
Free to think, free to be the best we can be.
Texas, California, Iowa, from sea to shining me.
State pride, rawhide, courageous side.
A cultural mix unheard of before the Pilgrims landed, and the Natives
Took pity and helped them live.
Thanksgiving, 4th of July, Veterans of Foreign Wars,
Germans, French, Italians, Scots, Swedes, African Americans.
All Americans, all united in that.
911 Hero pride.
Sacrifices. Pride to all of us, they were Americans.
All for one, a nation under God, my Country Tis of Thee
8/27/2018 My Country Tis of Thee Contest Sponsor: Brahn Bailey
...Then, of course, there is the idea
that people are nothing but groups,
whether lumped by skin or income
there’s nothing further from the truth.
A group is but an abstraction,
it’s the one where the sovereignty lies.
Think individuals can’t effect change?
Just ask President forty-five.
Or Guttenberg and his printing press,
Mr. Gates and his software codes,
a single man nailed to a cross,
be he a God or man, who knows?
One person can change the whole game,
even in the ‘collectivist’ lands,
the politburo’s evils exposed
by that brave heart Solzhenitsyn.
Did they all accomplished nothing,
slaving for their dreams alone?
They gave us a host of changes,
while the socialists just give us bones.
The Nazis in their cruel madness
left ten million souls undone,
but Socialists, they take the gold,
slaughtering one hundred million.
And those are just the ones we know,
the real number’s much higher still,
all that death, and what has it brought?
No paradise, and it never will.
At least the Germans, after the war,
had the sense to learn from their mistakes,
Socialists refuse to move beyond
their ideas of murderous hate.
They just hide out in schools and claim
that they’re only ‘misunderstood,’
tied identity to failed ideas
so they can never see they’re no good.
To refuse to learn bloody lessons
strikes me as insanely perverse,
in truth they’re not as bad as Nazis,
they’re orders of magnitude worse.