The Last Letter Home Poem by Don Mortell

I shall not kiss those lips again.
Those lips that quivered as they kissed me goodbye.
Those lips that spoke their last farewell,
Those lips that curse still the gods on high
For casting her love into the jaws of hell.

I shall not hold my unseen child.
Her joyous laugh as daddy comes home.
Her tears, her hugs, the day that she weds.
Let her know and know it well,
That daddy loves her,
Though he lays cold among the dead.

The guns fall silent now.
Soon, the end.
Soon this pain will stop.
The fear, no more.
Twenty two candles marked my breaths,
But to my rest, my peace restored
And one little wooden cross will mark my death.

The dark, the smoke, the silence.
The trench ladders are installed.
'Steady boys, steady'.
'Over the top my lads'. My number has finally been called.
'Make ready'.
A whistle blows, then more.
Mud, blood, a wasteland of tears.
My hands shake, my nails gouge my Enfields stock.
A last prayer for safe return falls on Gods deaf ear.
The last tick of the clock.

The guns roar to life once more.
May the heavens damn you Haig and French!
Watch as your children fall! !
Hot metal shreds my tunic, my skin, my muscle, my bone.
I cry for my mother, a last desperate call.
We fall into our muddy graves, ten thousand strong,
But each one,
Alone.