Death Stalks The Trenches

• Joshua Butler-wenden, Grade 10
• Poetry
• 2011

Dying rays of a dying sun
Stain the bloody crimson sky
And fire and smoke fill the crowded field
As soldiers scream and wounded cry

And now death stalks the trenches grim
In the eyes of men and the glint of steel
As battle is done with the dying day
For fear to fade and wounds to heal

And the surgeons ply their deathly trade
As grim faced men hold brother’s hands
And life fade’s slowly, with a prolonged breath
Then slips away, twixt God’s commands

So grief and rage fight hand in hand
And Death’s cold eyes do drift away
And so men’s tear-stained gazes turn
To view the tragic heart-worn fray

And so a fresh day dawns anew
And Death returns, the scythe strikes twice
With gleaming steel and flashing gun
And dead men fight with hearts of ice

And when the blood flows free again
And dyes the gruesome crimson sky
And the dead sun sets on fields of red
So Death stalks the trenches, and brave men die

So the pride of one damns the grief of all
And so they fight for a bloodless sky
Those brave souls, now gone for good
As young men smile, and old men cry

For neither side is glory found
For neither side is vengeance sweet
For neither side does war make sense
But Death will know when both sides meet