Mark McCaughan

Mark McCaughan Poems

The Best Poem Of Mark McCaughan

Perfect Symmetry

Love came to beat of piper's tune-
Corners of the Pals' platoon
As sharp as the sergeant's tongue.
"Dress right! ", "Forward march! ", "About turn! "
Their hands brushed.

Side by side - esprit de corps
With which to dig and haul and war.
What fighting does to good men,
They bemoaned, foxhole huddled -
Their hands held.

Slow came death, one blessèd day,
Deep in Europe's life-soaked clay,
A multitude in No-man's land
They joined - at last together -
Their hands clenched.

Under ranks of Portland stone
They Lie, but Unto God unknown,
Fallen in to uniform rows,
Below, the fragments of them
Twist, entwined- ever together.

Perfect symmetry

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