Nameless.
Headstones tell stories of breath succumbing
for Nature brings end to the unfit.
Setting the table with one place fewer sends
mourners for graveside visits.
Comfort is there in the quiet of granite with
names and dates of loved ones missed.
But World War 1 saw a coffinless era as boy
soldiers fell to muddy extinction.
Young bodies dropped nameless in scores
so graveyards at home had no link.
Plaques began to appear telling not of lives
lost but of what had been achieved.
Yet innocent blood indifferently spilled can
never be seen as victory.
Shell blasts and gun fire wrought by elite
terrorized youngsters into killing.
Shame on those who never brought back
a generation of stolen children.
- Author: Fay Slimm. ( Offline)
- Published: March 25th, 2022 05:10
- Category: Unclassified
- Views: 49
- Users favorite of this poem: L. B. Mek, rrodriguez
Comments8
A sensitive write Fay.
Thanks Orchi for your visit and read of Nameless.
Yes, how is Putin going to explain to twenty thousand mothers about the disappearance of their sons and daughters.
Yes how indeed Paul - - dictators world-wide have never been concerned with family heartbreak when children disappear in the name of war.
One million died, in a single day
one Million!
just harrowingly bleak, to think
we still
haven't learnt, the brutal consequences
of war..
your words made my heart, tear up
thinking of all those mothers
who spent the rest of their days
cursing, mother's day
and its nightmare gifts of memories...
bless your gentle, poetic fingers
for penning such a heartfelt tribute
dear Fay
may we Never, forget!
Thanks dear L.B. for your review of my verse called Nameless. The brutality of war which recruits mere children must not be forgotten as the world sinks further into chaotic insanity - - thank you for reading my small tribute to families who in 1914 onwards had to cope with losing a whole generation.
All too relevant words for todays conflict where conscripts are fed through a machine of politics to a deathly dilemma at the cost of their young lives.
Such harm is done to his own people and country let alone his murderous intent elsewhere. Putin like Hitler is a cruel power mad murderer.
True of course Dusk that politics is a deadly machine and children were fed into its jaws by the thousands in 1914 onwards as my verse outlined. Dropping to die in mud created the title . What a cost to grieving families for the rest of their lives.
This is quite a poem. It reminded me of In Flanders Fields by John McCrae. Excellent work Fay. Your poem does bring back the sad story of those nameless whose bodies lie somewhere on the battlefield unrecognized. Excellent piece of writing.
Thanking you Rod for dropping by a read sad indeed the subject of how young the victims were in that war to end all ward - I have wanted to publish something along these lines for some tim - - those innocents who never came home are the real heroes of that tragic recruitment that used all ages to fight an enemy.
The bloody splashes in each of your neatly balanced lines speak of many wars, Fay. There is not one anybody could disagree with.
I agree Dave - - many are the wars since then that recruit children - - the one my verse outlined took a whole generation - how tragic there have no lessons been learned by those who came after.
Very emotive write Fay and so very true.
Andy
The saddest of all is that nothing has altered and by soldiers are still recruited for war. Thanks for your visit and comment dear Andy
more than a crying shame captured ..
and so bloody well ........................ x
Well a bloomin' big thank you Nev. for your agreement that children should never be urged into war -- oh and also for your evergreen support for my poetic efforts to name and shame the elite who dont care what age they use................ x
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