Expendables

a remembrance of the muddy, bloody trenches of France

 

Expendables

 

They were hardy corpsmen

And didn’t see it coming

Didn’t see the shrapnel

That took them clean from France

Three weeks and no movement

All dug-in, damp in duty

Trench-life made of waiting

But wanting to advance.

Somewhere out in No-Man’s

That morning of the order

Lark was singing gaily

Where gray had stamped out life

Frost had flecked the grasses

And rations fed the masses

As young men from the farmlands

And factories faced new strife.

Now a different stirring

A dawn chill vision blurring

As Kraut and Brit

Expected something strange

Ordnance preparing

Not one a smile was wearing

The big guns back

Now moved to closer range.

And in an instant blazing

A Father lost a Son

A village lost a plumber

And a doctor scarce begun

A Lover lost her one dream

Far away neath prairie sun

And Johnny would not

Come marching home again.

Note: The photo was taken on November 7^th in Paris, Ontario. Beneath dramatic variable skies its over-exposure seems other-worldly.