Axis & Allies - damowords

The English at the Somme
The Magpies have abandonʹd Picardie
There mortal combat carried with aplomb,
Pig‐tailʹd pickets inching forward grimly,
The slow, slogging slaughter of the Somme;
Blighʹs virgin flight
Skimʹs carnage far & wide,
When great elephants fight suffers the countryside.
Graves met his friend by candlelight
In a cellar of Fricourt,
ʺGod, Sass, what poetry weʹll write
When the battle shall be oer!ʺ
To them the muses in their flight
Sole tonic of a war
Throwing like‐minded jongleurs together,
Ah! lasciate ogni speranza.
Pat joinʹd the brave Lancastrians
For Moo‐Cow Farm to fall,
Australians, Canadians,
A wretched three‐month crawl
& at the last, the action past, heart piercʹd by shrapnel ball.
Mouquet Farm
October
1916
Victory at Verdun
Somehow could Jean Francois still offer fight,
Despite facing Deathʹs gaze ten thousand times,
In evʹry shell‐hole slept a hellish sight,
At evʹry turn the clamour of manʹs crimes;
Once more Petain
Has orderʹd the advance,
Thou messianic man, thou saviour of all France.
Perchʹd behind the barrage roulant
March’d many a division;
Rough Provencal, bold Morrocon,
Sweet‐scented Parisian,
Clear‐eyeʹd Vosges, hardy Gascon
& bulldog‐toned Breton,
The poilus of a nation unified,
Praising their precious Charlemagne they died,
As now some new triumphant urge
Pullʹs warʹs grey grimace taut
One final surge up to the verge
Of that hard fought for fort,
Jean Francois plants the Tricolor, ʺVictoire!ʺ screams from his throat.
Fort Douamont
October 29 th
1916