The old man's eyes filled with tears
as he gazed at his Grandson.
"These are my war medals" he replied,
“when I was in World War One".

His grandson's eyes opened wide
when his medals he revealed,
For he had so often wondered
what secrets that box concealed.

He laid the metals before him,
They were so shiny and so bright,
The little boy's eyes lit up
it was an awesome sight.

Please tell me some stories Poppy
about when you were World War One,
Tell me about the things
that you have seen and done.

The old man's voice trembled
while his story he did tell,
Reliving the memories as he spoke
made his feeble body chill.

I enlisted in the Newfoundland Regiment
and then I was sent overseas.
To a place called Beaumont Hamel
where I fought to keep my country free.

I lived in muddy trenches
that were sometimes knee deep,
I was often cold, tired, and hungry
with no comfortable place to sleep.

I had to watch my good friends die
when fatally wounded by the foe,
There was nothing I could do
and it grieved me so.

I shall never forget that fateful day
in 1916 on the first of July.
We were like lambs at a slaughter
when the Brass plans went awry.

There was to be a surprise attack
but fate to us was unkind,
The Germans were alerted by
a premature exploding mine.

As our Regiment went over the top
we ran into machine gun fire
By the German soldiers that were hiding
behind the sharp barbed wire.

Hundred of Newfoundlanders lost
their lives on that tragic day;
The mud was red beneath them
as their life's blood gushed away.

The old man he fell silent
then he wiped away his tears;
His memories still haunted him
after all these years.

He put the medals in the box
and then replaced the lid,
The shiny medals still revealed
the faces of the dead.




By: Yvonne Legge