In the trenches
Over the top
Into No-Man’s Land
Told to walk
Into a wall of fire
A scythe through grass
The fall of men
Now they lie
Beyond our ken
In quiet fields of Flanders
Fields in France
Packed in landing craft
They come
A stretch of sand ahead of them
German fire facing them
Traces death before them
Still they come
Now in warm French earth
They lie
True for them
This ‘do or die’
Won the war
And lost their lives
So much for victory
War a mug’s game
Said my father
Seeing soldiers Falklands wander
No one wins
Everybody loses, see
He saw more than most
I warrant
Libyan desert
Arromanches
Ardennes where Yanks
Met Hitler’s steel
A soldier’s testament
He gave me
Find a way
Avoid the grave, see
Nothing is achieved
By sword or gun
Let the human spirit flourish
Let us one another nourish
War is foolish
Let us seek the sun
Brian Fahy
28 May 2021
Erris Poetry 