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Seventy Years - A Million Tears

by dharker 

Posted: 06 June 2014
Word Count: 193
Summary: For the men, and women who gave their lives - we will remember them


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Ordinary men in troubled times
On decks we stand and cry,
Fearful, afraid, uncertain
yet all prepared to die

Landing craft pitch and heave
bump and ride the tide
Ramps grind then fall;
the gates of hell flung wide

Young soldiers all, we surge and run
through swarms of coppered lead,
bullets fizz and fly, they pass
to summon forth the dead

heavy slap, then comrades fall
they die - their luck all run
shells hammer, thumping shock
on chest and gut they drum

Push forward now and upwards
beyond that hellish maw
the sights we see, the horrors get
upon that Stygian shore

On tortured lung we reach the ridge 
dropping all our foes then run 
Was it Death that gladly scythed the beach
Or just a mothers son

Seventy years of washing
Those waves on foreign shore
Will not wipe away nor diminish
That courageous battle corps
 
Now serried ranks of gravestones
Stand tall and fair and proud
Spilled the blood of heroes
They faced theirs fear unbowed.

Stand tall my fellow freemen
And shed ye not a tear
These men, these boys died fighting
So we would have no fear…






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Comments by other Members



V`yonne at 11:51 on 06 June 2014  Report this post
all gone to heaven, Dave. It's a poem with wide appeal for this anniversary of WW2 and the little ships that saved so many and without whom it might have been written in say -- German.

crowspark at 09:34 on 08 June 2014  Report this post
It only seems like yesterday I watched the 50th anniversary buildup as I returned from Normandy.
This is a difficult area to write about without falling into the pitfalls of the kind of language we associate with this kind of event (example - the catch phrases used in Master Chef) but you have engaged and done a solid and passionate job here. Well done, Dave.

Artista at 14:26 on 08 June 2014  Report this post
Well done Dave! A difficult topic to write about without getting caught up in all the usual stuff. As Oonah says we have much to be thankful for. Our lives could have been vastly different but for their courage and that includes all those who like  my father who was an engineer and kept the planes in the air to back up the troops. A great tribute to so many. Thank you for sharing that with us.
Jo

FelixBenson at 14:47 on 08 June 2014  Report this post
Admirable and moving, Dave. Well done.

Thomas Norman at 09:50 on 10 August 2014  Report this post
A supremely well written poem taking the reader to those terrible shores with a fine dignity.
The style is exemplary and flows with ease.
I like this very much.

dharker at 13:33 on 10 August 2014  Report this post
Thank you Thomas! Much appreciated

Dave H.


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