POETRY BY RUSSELL ILES

The rifle sound

Echoes all around

Brave Tommy is no more

They say he was a coward

Of course that is a lie

He fought for king and country

He fought for you and I

Shell-shocked he wandered aimlessly

Not knowing what to do

He came upon an empty barn

And slept the whole day through

Brave Tommy was awoken

And taken back in chains

You will be taught a lesson son

You won’t see home again

Tommy’s mother received a letter

Your son was very brave

She believed the lies they told her

And took them to her grave.

But we remember Tommy

And the price he had to pay

Thank you for our freedom

Remember them on poppy day

MR. KITCHENER

By Russell Iles (2007)

Mr Kitchener what have you done
You’ve killed my one and only son

To the trenches he was sent
His last days of youth in terror spent

Mr Kitchener what have you done

You’ve killed my one and only son

Killed in action, cruelly slain

I wish that you could feel my pain

Mr Kitchener could I forgive

For not has long as I will live

Even if this war is won

You’ve killed my one and only son

Life for me is not the same

For in France my son will remain

With thousands of others cruelly slain

I blame one person, only one.

And that person is not the Hun.

Oh Mr Kitchener what have you done.

You’ve killed my one and only son.

 

YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU

BY Russell Iles (2007) 

 

Come on lads, defend this land
Off to France, ye merry band

Whistle and sing as you march away

For you’ll be home by Christmas day

Fight the good fight, and don’t delay
The enemy is on it’s way
Your country needs you, the posters say

And many a mother for their sons did pray

As they whistled and marched away

Not many realised that summer’s day
That in the fields of France they’d stay

And be there still, this very day

We won’t forget that merry band

Who marched away to defend this land

Rows of headstones mark where they lay
Remember them on poppy day
 
 

OVER THE TOP

Russell Iles (2006)

The whistle blows

Over the top they go

To meet they’re doom

For all they know

They run into a hail of fire

As they try to breach that damned barbed wire

Many bodies fall along the way

Few live to fight another day

As shells explode

With the sound of thunder

The fear they feel

We cannot wonder

Many men have fallen down

Amongst the poppies all around

Suddenly there is no sound

As silence falls on the battleground

Survivors few and far between

Leave that devastated scene

And pray for friends

That once had been

To mother’s they write

Of wars bitter taste

Of friends they’ve lost

It’s such a waste

Tomorrow we will fight in vain

What’s the point, so many slain

And many a mother will feel the pain

Your son’s not coming home again