The Big Battle - Poem

The Big Battle (Who knows who will win)

It is cold
The ground is very muddy but the men know that they must go on
They must push forward never knowing what is around the next corner
Mines explode all of the time
Once you have stood on one you are history
Your companions glance around and all they can see is a selection of body parts flying up into the air
It is a horrific sight

Slowly they advance around the next corner
The enemy is still in sight
This is what they have been waiting for, a chance to defeat the enemy
A chance to win the war or at least this battle
The men know many lives will be lost on both sides before anyone wins
They advance a little further keeping their heads down

They are spotted by the enemy
Guns are fired in all directions
The battle is really on
People fall
Some are dead many are injured
They fall into the thick mud
Wounds exposed to a variety of germs
Trampled on under foot
Some of the men loose their will to live and die a slow and painful death in the mud amid the gunfire
The remaining men run for cover
They take to the trees but they do not offer much protection

Nothing seems to stop the enemy from pushing forward
More gun fire
More men die
Guns are reloaded at a fierce pace
The enemy appears to have the upper hand

The ground is littered with bodies
Some bodies are still moving others are silent
It is a tragic sight
The enemy appears to be getting closer and closer
They don’t seem to have lost many of their men
They still look strong and fit
More guns are fired
The gun fire can be heard for miles
Yet more men die
Many of the men are young, only eighteen
Many have wives and children waiting for them at home

The remaining men battle on
They are beginning to feel beaten
The enemy is still moving closer
The men have a choice to make, go on and die or surrender to an unknown fate
The mud is getting thicker
Their clothes are dirty and torn offering little protection from the elements
They are loosing men at a great rate
The men look at one another
The enemy moves forward once again
The men have no choice now, to stand a chance of survival they have to surrender
They drop their weapons into the mud
They raise their hands and declare that they surrender
They are upset
They thought that they could win this battle and they have been proved wrong
The enemy was so much stronger and better prepared than them
The enemy has won with only a few men lost
The enemy cheers a haunting cheer of victory
They round up the men that have surrendered
The battleground is a mass of bodies and weapons
The men that are alive but badly injured give up the will to fight and die on a death bed of mud and fresh blood
The enemy marches off the men who have surrendered
Off to face an unknown fate in the hands of the enemy
The enemy has won yet another big battle
Sadly for these few men it is the end


This piece was originally written for a competition – it did not win!