In the trenches I must wait,
To meet a very likely fate.
Soldiers here are used like bait.
Oh how this world is filled with hate.
“Bang, bang, bang,” guns fire overhead.
Covering the ground with bodies of the dead.
Stinking, squelching mud slows us down,
“Gas!” someone cries, but masks can’t be found.
I need to run or steal a mask,
But this is never an easy task.
“Do you have a mask? there’s none in my bag!”
My heart lurches at the reply, “Guten tag!”
BANG – a gun shot through my heart that I yield
Now I join the dead in Flanders Fields
I’ve served my country, but at what cost?
Hundreds of thousands of lives lost.
I watch the war from the land of the dead
As more violence and fighting and blood is shed.
Please can we put an end to this story?
No more Dulce et Decorum est Pro Patria Mori.
Lewis Horton
Craigroyston Community High School