This Trench - My Grave Poem by Suu Casey Young

I sit within this trench, my grave,
fighting continues all around
but I must pause and take a breath,
for I have neither sight nor sound.
A body lies across my lap
but I cannot remember who
as many have fought by my side,
so many, and yet so few.

I should call for a medic -
have any managed to survive?
But t'would be a pointless journey,
for Death will be the first to arrive.
Duty called, and I am ready
to die here on enemy shore,
surrounded by the stench of death
of those who fight no more.

‘Ere I left my homeland shores
I thought life was wins or loss’s,
yet now a lesson learnt too late
is all can wear white crosses.
Tell my family to have no regrets
for how their son became a man,
fighting beside the best of men
in this distant foreign land.

Silence now is heavy
but still my heart does beat.
It bravely struggles onward,
though my body calls retreat.
Now the pain begins to fade
for a moment my sight is restored
and I see my friends and family
waiting on a distant shore.

I sit within this trench, my grave,
fighting continues all around,
but ‘tis only my body that lingers
for my spirit is now unbound.
I know my mother will weep for me
and friends may mourn my loss,
but in the fight for freedom
someone must pay the cost.