All the Unborn Children

By Overthetop1

Fri, 01 Jul 2011
  • 1472 reads
7 comments
 

Echoes of guns stuttered near, eggs laid, plans.
There was so much to do. The timer
cast a shadowy proclamation. Yolk yellow sand.
Full and gritty. The pity of war.

Husband as Captain, Fatherland in your smile,
nursing an optimistic, tiny platoon. All so raw.
But I couldn’t fathom the incessant scarlet streams.
Was I mortally wounded?

All the babies never brought to fruition, gurgles stifled,
The birth of death, crosses upon crosses.

The land tried one final blast before zero hour.
Some watched the battle from a higher ground,
their hearts full of dread.
Down to timing again.
The wheels of war.
Dawn, dusk, set in stone.

The shock of the shell - hole at Boissellle, deeper, more
empty than death. There were so many battalions.
There were none. It was over. Was it never to be over?

Eventually the deluge lessened. Dribbled sporadically into
still damaged psyches. Severed limbs are given prosthetics.
Surgeons stitched some sense of days unlived onto
charred faces. It is said some things can virtually be re-grown.

Still. The pounding has ceased.

Your eyes are life itself, hold me and we will say
a prayer for all the dead boys
and all the children
that never were.

Certificate 12
Poem
Miscellaneous

Comments

Submitted by fatboy74 on
Surgeons stitched some sense of days unlived onto charred faces. Wonderful line in a poem that I enjoyed but that has confused me no end - i think it's about relationships and that the egg thing is a conceit (soldiers,war etc) that runs through the poem -, scarlet streams -ketchup ? Anyway it got me thinking and I will end up reading it again, and I always like the way your poems are different. :-)

 

Submitted by fatboy74 on
I think the lesson from my previous comment which is so far off the mark as to be untrue is to read the blurb every once in a while before reading the poem - then I wouldn't look like quite such an idiot. I'm going to leave my previous comment there so people can see what guff I talk 99% of the time. Still enjoyed the poem though.

 

Submitted by Overthetop1 on
No FB - you don't talk guff at all. You got part of it right in your first comment, which shows your poetic instincts are pretty damn good! The blurb is meant to try to simplify what I know is a confusing poem. I started to write it after a visit to the Somme & meant it to be a poem about the Great War. But it started to runaway from me, and I found I was also bringing in the issue of fertility. The Great War has always fascinated me. But then the childless thing sort of crept in! The whole thing with eggs, blood, and timing sort of represents that part. I meant the fertility/child thing to look too at the implications of war on women. Many of women had to accept that life , post - war, would never be the same for them. I suppose - to simplify it - it's a poem about life and death with war as a the crucial backdrop. Thanks as ever for reading. I was pleased that you say that my poems are different, as that's what I try to do. I do pay for it though - I think because some of my work is far too enigmatic/pretentious for it's own good! Have I explained it at all or are you more confused!

Overthetop1

Submitted by seashore on
I like the way you write about war whilst relating the theme to the wider issues of fertility. I think it makes for a fascinating read.

Submitted by Overthetop1 on
Seashore - thank you so much for reading this and for your positive feedback. It is greatly appreciated.

Overthetop1

Submitted by Geoffrey on
The first world war always gets me emotional and you certainly succeeded with this. The sheer stupidity of "the big push" admittedtly with hindsight reminds me of CS Forrester in one of his books. "The generals were like carpenters used to removing nails, now faced with a screw for the first time.

Submitted by Overthetop1 on
I am right with you there Geoff and many thanks for reading. I too have - ever since I read the war poets in my teens - been fascinated and saddened in equal measure by the great war, and it has always made me emotional too. Some Historians now seem to think the Somme push was worth it as we learned how to fight. I don't think such wanton slaughter can ever be worth it. I love the CS Forrester quote - it's a new one on me. The other one you have probably heard many times - `Lions lead by Donkeys.'

Overthetop1