Soldier In The Trenches Poem by Colin Ian Jeffery

(World War One 1914-18)
British general ordered his men to walk not run in
a bayonet charge so the Germans would not think they
were cowards.

Private Tommy Atkins, seventeen
Waits, rifle and bayonet fixed
For officer's whistle to blow
Ready to go over the top into no-man's land.
Soldiers ordered to walk to German trenches
Passing through barbwire, over shell holes
Path swept with machine-gun fire.

Tommy must go or be shot by officer
Refusal meaning cowardice in the field
Terrified Tommy thinks of home and parents
Knowing thousands died in last bayonet charge
Dying because a General understood only slaughter
Not hearing soldiers mothers wailing cries
Weeping for sons lives snuffed out like candles.

Officer blows his whistle
Fear grips Tommy, and silently he prays to live
Then up the ladder he goes
Walking with mates towards German trenches
Hears rat-tat-tat of machine guns
Agonizing pain as bullets rip into him
Cries out with dying breath for his mother.