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All
along the Western Front,
brave young men were dying,
across the miles of trenches dug,
fierce mortar shells were flying,
and in the horrors that ensued
too awful to describe,
desperate men stuck to their guns
clung to their very lives
With fortitude these fighting men
who aspired to be so bold,
came to do a soldier's job
inspired by stories told,
but in
the trenches it was clear
as death and carnage spread,
war was not a picture show
nor half what they had read
The battle blazed with blood and gore
air filled with poison gas,
both sides obsessed with angry rage
and savage bitterness,
so many
lives were taken
bodies left out in the snow,
for into the bloody no man's land
none had the guts to go
Then suddenly on the 24th
midst mud and ice and snow,
the war came to an abrupt stop
noteworthy to behold,
it is recorded history
though at first hard to believe,
both sides laid down their weapons and
made peace on Christmas Eve
In foxholes up and down the line
guns one by one went quiet,
as a single note became a choir
voices singing Silent Night,
as emerging soldiers bravely met
joined together in the wood,
and sang in praise and harmony
the one song all understood
How gentle then became the mood
for on this Christmas Eve,
men came to see the meaning of
love given and received,
hearts that once held hatred
met each other face to face,
how much in common was discerned
once battle lines replaced
Then chocolates and cigarettes
were traded by the men,
it was as though for this one night
there was a common trend,
orders were discarded
no one obeyed commands,
and in their commonality
they found each other friends
When the battlefield went silent
how strange it came to be,
that at last the lion and the lamb
enjoyed a mutual peace,
and found beneath their uniforms
there were no enemies,
when men shook hands instead of fists
1914, Christmas Eve
Too many lives are sacrificed
what a toll war always takes,
have pity on the ones who died
their dreams lie in its wake,
and oh the lessons we deny
so often we're deceived,
far better we were warriors
for peace on Christmas Eve.
© d.knape
December
16, 2014
*On Christmas
Eve, 1914 during World
War I, this event actually happened. Soldiers, acting on their
own, laid down their arms and came together for one day of peace,
exchanging gifts and sharing the spirit of Christmas.
More "Once Upon A Line" - Light verse
and poetry by d.knape
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