War

• Cloris Xu, Grade 6, Linden Park Primary School -
• Poetry
• 2022

Excellence Award in the 'Unleashed 2022' competition

Hidden in the trenches of the Second World War,
With a first class view of the knee-deep mud
Anxiously listening to the AAA gun's roars.
Next to him- another dull thud
As yet another falls down dead.
Bullets rip through the air,
Missing the soldier's head by the breadth of a hair.
He shoulders his rifle, shoves a magazine down the barrel
Then peeks over the trench to see all the bloodshed.
The soldier longs for a truce; a blissful respite.
His company will do anything to stop the horror,
Even if it deprives them of patriotic honour.
His fellow comrades know the terror of combat.
He leaps bravely up- blood stains his white cap.