Monday 29 August 2011

Homeward bound

29th January 1945

"It snowed all day and many had to fall out by the road, overcome by weakness.  Most of these men were picked up by carts and brought tot his place, but it is said that several who fell asleep died from exposure"

Frost bitten fingers
nipped like the flea-ridden bunks

Your blinkered face
chiseled by the cutting hail

which pelts upon your woollen uniform
damp with the tears of war.

Your exposed fingers clutch tight
the handle of your red cross box.

The clenched fist, white and numb
takes me back to the propaganda from yesteryear.

The once jubilant punch of patriotism
deflated like a popped balloon.

Steps of the hunched figures
expose the foreign ground.

Through the blanket of snow may try to conceal
the heartache shed on distant fields,
the disguise cannot fool these soldiers minds
who seek their freedom at the end of this line. 


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