Duty

The last artillery shell is blasted,
The officer readies his whistle,
The men mount the slope,
Death, ready and waiting.

Then they jump,
The jump of no return
The jump which is marred by death and horror
The jump which they must all take

Then they run,
The run to the barbed wire wall
The run to the machine gun fire
The run which they must all take

Then they fall,
The fall to the muddy ground of death
The fall which spells the end
The fall which they must all take

Then we forget,
The forget which should never happen
The forget which we should be ashamed of
But we still do.

© Copyright of Ben Blackburn - Known as "Ben" on this website. This copyright stands for all marked and unmarked poems and quotes on this website written by Ben Blackburn. Partial or whole parts of the poem may only be used or reproduced under the autherisation of Ben Blackburn. May I stress that I have also taken precautions out of cyber space to copyright my work also.