From trench to trench <br />You followed me, to speed <br />My penance at the midnight hour of life, <br />Once all was lost, and mine the greater need <br />You came again, to gloat, and turn the knife. <br /> <br />It’s always been the same <br />A thrust, then grief; <br />A few yards forward, then dig in, and damn the cost, <br />We worried at the borders of belief <br />To count advantage first, but never loss! <br /> <br />I can’t remember peace, <br />There’s never been <br />A time for me when war was not the game, <br />Each word a bullet, spat from lips that screamed; <br />You drank your deadly cocktails, then took aim. <br /> <br />‘Til I was sorely wounded, <br />Sick at heart, <br />And pounded by the mortars of your mind; <br />I slept in foxholes, waking with a start <br />To seek relief in silence, marking time. <br /> <br />While tanks, like thunder <br />Rolled across my soul <br />To leave their shadow-tracks upon my brain, <br />My thoughts were camouflaged, and left untold, <br />I worked at night, while you explored your pain. <br /> <br />I lost my way, as if <br />I’d ever known <br />The forward from the back, the bleak terrain <br />That you and I once conquered, then disowned <br />Has left me not a landmark I could claim. <br /> <br />And so to this, the shadow <br />That at night <br />Will beckon me toward some ancient death, <br />When life has lost its paltry appetite <br />And I, the walking wounded, give it breath. <br /> <br />12 February 1991<br /><br />David Lewis Paget<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/trench-warfare/
