All through the night and in the next day’s light
The endless columns came. Here was Defeat.
The men marched doggedly, and kept their arms,
But sleep weighed on their backs so that they reeled
Staggering as they passed.
Their force was spent.
Only, like old Horatius, each man saw
Far off his home, and seeing, plodded on.
At last they ceased. The sun shone down, and we
Were left to watch along a dusty road.
That night we blew our guns. We paced a shell
Fuse downwards in each muzzle. Then we put
Another in the breech, secured a wire
Fast to the firing lever, crouched, and pulled.
It sounded like a cry of agony,
The crash and clang of splitting, tempered steel.
Thus did our guns, our treasured colours, pass;
And we were left bewildered, weaponless
And rose and marched, our faces to the sea.
We formed in line beside the water’s edge.
The little waves made oddly home-like sounds,
Breaking in half-seen surf upon the strand.
The night was full of noise; the whistling thud
The shells made in the sand, and pattering stones;
The cries cut short, the shouts of units” names;
The crack of distant shots, and bren gun fire;
The sudden clattering crash of masonry.
Steadily, all the time, the marching tramp
Of feet passed by along the shell-torn road,
Under the growling thunder of the guns.
The major said “The boats cannot get in,
There is no depth of water. Follow me.”
And so we followed, wading in our ranks
Into the blackness of the sea. And there,
Lit by the burning oil across the swell,
We stood and waited for the unseen boats.
Oars in the darkness, rowlocks, shadowy shapes
Of boats that searched. We heard a seaman’s hail.
Then we swam out, and struggled with our gear,
Clutching the looming gunwales. Strong hands pulled,
And we were in and heaving with the rest,
Until at last they turned. The dark oars dipped,
The laden craft crept slowly out to sea,
To where in silence lay the English ships.
(B G Bonnallack)
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Based on Topics: Man Poems, Night Poems, Sadness Poems, Time Poems, Cry Poems, Fire Poems, Home Poems, Water Poems, Silence Poems, English Poems, Defeats PoemsBased on Keywords: oddly, units, plodded, breech, half-seen, wading, horatius, weaponless, shell-torn, doggedly, bren