{"id":2796,"date":"2016-06-30T11:21:02","date_gmt":"2016-06-30T11:21:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kildare.ie\/ehistory\/?p=2796"},"modified":"2024-06-14T16:48:21","modified_gmt":"2024-06-14T15:48:21","slug":"the-somme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/the-somme\/","title":{"rendered":"The Somme – poem by Angela Lane"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE SOMME<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Poem by Angela Lane on the 100th anniversary of The Battle of the Somme 1916<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Somme<\/strong><\/p>\n

Soldiers,<\/p>\n

Guns,<\/p>\n

Supplies,<\/p>\n

A spectacular show<\/p>\n

Is about to<\/p>\n

Be run,<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

This was the real battle.<\/p>\n

My body was the second.<\/p>\n

Fear brings desperation<\/p>\n

A shelter was needed<\/p>\n

Water and more,<\/p>\n

Dry trenches, avoid fire, forget exhaustion,<\/p>\n

Hidden Tunnels.<\/p>\n

Underground warfare<\/p>\n

Germans dug<\/p>\n

We dug,<\/p>\n

Side by Side<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Listen, Dig,<\/p>\n

Place explosive,<\/p>\n

Run.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Terror, fear, flashes!<\/p>\n

Fire, rain, crashes,<\/p>\n

Spared for another Battle<\/p>\n

My own.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

The shoulders were raw,<\/p>\n

The guns were heavy,<\/p>\n

We marched all day,<\/p>\n

Without a bevvie.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

The silence,<\/p>\n

Waiting for a shell !<\/p>\n

Is my name on the bullet?<\/p>\n

I must be in Hell<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Optimism can kill.<\/p>\n

Be prepared to drill,<\/p>\n

Kill,<\/p>\n

Oh Mary.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Play cards ?<\/p>\n

Learn to dive<\/p>\n

Stay alive<\/p>\n

Prepare for bombards<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Destiny,<\/p>\n

Eternity,<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Au Revoir.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

We could see them<\/p>\n

As they could see us<\/p>\n

Who will live?<\/p>\n

Forgive.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

The Battle of the Somme Began<\/p>\n

1916<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Barbed wire.<\/p>\n

Continuous fire.<\/p>\n

Red blood flows,<\/p>\n

Many decompose<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

We were mowed down<\/p>\n

Like grass before the mower.<\/p>\n

No man’s land,<\/p>\n

Was their’s in death.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Jerry\u2019s counter attacking,<\/p>\n

Run, crawl<\/p>\n

Over dead bodies.<\/p>\n

Soldiers all.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Heat, Mud,<\/p>\n

Reserves that never arrive<\/p>\n

Will my life be spared?<\/p>\n

Paddy the poet.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Heroes<\/p>\n

Brave or willing to die?<\/p>\n

Not I,<\/p>\n

Not Many,<\/p>\n

Is this the reason I wear a<\/p>\n

British Uniform.<\/p>\n

Honourable?<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

We prayed in silence,<\/p>\n

We prayed out loud,<\/p>\n

Jesus was called upon,<\/p>\n

His answer blank.<\/p>\n

Private or Corporal<\/p>\n

In this death battle<\/p>\n

There is no rank<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Casualties by the score,<\/p>\n

Bombing raids,<\/p>\n

Exploding shells,<\/p>\n

I just can\u2019t take any more.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Not a woman in sight,<\/p>\n

Mammy I miss you tonight,<\/p>\n

Oh Mary Dear,<\/p>\n

I wish you were near.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

The walking wounded.<\/p>\n

As far as the eye can see,<\/p>\n

The blind, the deaf,<\/p>\n

That empty stare,<\/p>\n

Death fast approaching<\/p>\n

A 1000 Yards there.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

I am too young to shave,<\/p>\n

No time for hygiene.<\/p>\n

Blood stained bandages being the norm,<\/p>\n

Scars so raw,<\/p>\n

Gross disfigurements,<\/p>\n

Shell shocked.<\/p>\n

Are we being mocked?<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

800 went over,<\/p>\n

100 came back,<\/p>\n

The Chaplain\u2019s task was dark,<\/p>\n

He wrote That letter.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Sleeping men,<\/p>\n

Dead men,<\/p>\n

Side by side,<\/p>\n

We have no place to hide<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

The uniform is hot,<\/p>\n

The tunic was very itchy,<\/p>\n

The bites, the boils,<\/p>\n

The rashes.<\/p>\n

No creams, no cures,<\/p>\n

March on or rot.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Walk in my boots<\/p>\n

Full of my blood<\/p>\n

Septic blisters, pain, pain, pain.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Newspapers were welcome,<\/p>\n

As Soles for Shoes,<\/p>\n

Hats, bums, beds,<\/p>\n

Protection from the sun<\/p>\n

No time to read.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

A Skeleton Battalion<\/p>\n

Is.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

If I live to be an old man<\/p>\n

The corpses, the smell,<\/p>\n

Men decapitated,<\/p>\n

Wasted lives.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Sir Douglas Haig,<\/p>\n

You got it wrong,<\/p>\n

The Hun is powerful.<\/p>\n

Not many church funerals<\/p>\n

Gone, No Gong, Gone, No Gong.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Trees, trenches, troops,<\/p>\n

Trolleys for the wounded,<\/p>\n

Stench of decomposing comrades<\/p>\n

German soldiers,<\/p>\n

Prisoners of war,<\/p>\n

What is this for?<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Water and Mother,<\/p>\n

Were often muttered,<\/p>\n

We dance with death.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

The shells crashed,<\/p>\n

We dashed,<\/p>\n

Utter silence,<\/p>\n

Sanity has been,<\/p>\n

Slaughtered within us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Angela Lane, Newbridge \u2013 1 July 2016 <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE SOMME \u00a0 Poem by Angela Lane on the 100th anniversary of The Battle of the Somme 1916 The Somme Soldiers, Guns, Supplies, A spectacular show Is about to Be run, * This was the real battle. My body was the second. Fear brings desperation A shelter was needed Water and more, Dry trenches, avoid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-decade-of-centenaries"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Kildare Local Studies","author_link":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/author\/localstudies\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2796\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}