The Last Doughboy

end the war now

The Last Doughboy

went marching home

mustered up to heaven

to rest in perfect peace

never went over the top

when he was over there

drove an ambulance to save

the last dying bits of humanity

excavated from the craters

reeking with mud and blood

the turgid stench

of blessed death

wafts through the

muddled labyrinth

a ghastly kingdom

of rats and men

intractable mazes

of hate, hope and waste

led by inept generals

vainglorious politicians

promising triumphant victory

while begging disastrous defeat

bold shouts of advance

lead to routed retreats

global trench warfare

sweet earthen coffins

empathy's last gasp

compassion's last stand

gurgling lungs

gagging on gas

imploding on

clotting blood

liquid ammonia

sears sensitive retinas

wafting flash of fire

burns eyes forever shut

concussive bursts

bludgeon eardrums

ripped bodies of friends

splayed onto comrades

the macabre rouge

a terrible war paint

liberally applied

with stunning result

by the industrial rattle

of cantankerous Gatlings

better minds thought it

the war to end all wars

the horrific scenes of waste

the pleading lips of starved children

the last Doughboy saw it all

a lucky Johnny who marched home

he thought the horror of WWI

would be enough to end all wars

yet all is not quiet

on the western front

Johnny's still got lots

of gruesome guns

distressed humanity

remains very busy

carting away human rubble

from our apocalyptic trenches

go to your reward

valiant Doughboy

"leave us citizens
of death's gray land,

drawing no dividend
from time's tomorrows."

Siegfried Sassoon

Dedicated to

Frank Buckles

GodSpeed Beloved

You Tube Music Video:

When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again

Oakland

3/1/11

jbm

Reviews

[r. f. jordan]

incredible vivid imagism from the master of the reckoning couplet.

"the macabre rouge
a terrible war paint


liberally applied
with stunning result"

this is the type of poetry that poetry became poetry to be. the human tendency to deploy violence, despite the historical repetition of resulting horror, is eerie.

[Shay]

u really hit a mark with this poem, it is very well written and i enjoyed reading it.