Hell´s Quagmire Poem by Keith Jeffries

They lay in fetid mud, covered in congealed blood
All around the trappings of hell did abound
Broken bodies, pallid skin, all had died in a din
Stillness now dwelt in hell´s backyard
As distant guns thundered and continued to roar
A dark tinged sky of cloud and cordite
Drizzled its misery upon the mutilated dead
Rifles as broken kindling lay in squalid slime
Close to the brave now lost to their hellish grave
Freckled wire matted over a tragic scene
Beneath, those whose lives were doomed to die
Helmets, gas masks guns galore now failed to keep a score
Craters disfigured a muddy hide of lines broken and askew
Fortifications never meant to last had gone in a blast
Smouldering ruins, the staggering wounded
Horses, dogs, casualties too were now human prey
Trees, bare, uprooted, bereft of leaves or branches
Cried to the sky as they too wanted to die
Papers, letters and the like did flutter as distant guns did stutter
Hell had visited this place and left its mark
and despite the day all became dark64747