Mates In Peace Forever

• Timothy Hobbs, Grade 8
• Poetry
• 2011

Can’t a man get any peace around here?
Soft and Quiet,
Solitude time,
Quiet and Quietness,
Restfulness, Privacy,
Happiness, Joy, Glee, Delight,
Reading a book,
Swimming in the pool,
Relaxing to the sounds of the night.
He remembered where he was.... Gallipoli, in the trenches,
With blood seeping through his hat,
War, guns, screaming and fright,
Can a solider avoid a bullet tonight?
His mate died doing his best,
For what? His country? His fellow men?
Or for politics in another land.
He swiftly grabbed his mate’s possessions,
To return to a mother, a father, a family lost.
And then he thought of peace,
But it couldn’t happen.
Horror and despair,
He begun to tremble,
Terror was the look on his face,
Concentration was lost,
His vision blurred,
The enemy faded as the pain begun,
The bullet had found its mark,
The world disappeared and all was lost,
War.... What was it good for?
MATES IN PEACE FOREVER