Congratulations to Aidan and Michael who won the Year 10 Poetry Competition! Following their study of war poetry, students were tasked with writing their own poem about a soldier’s guilt.

THE STAINS OF WAR - By Aidan McCann

“Enlist” they said

“Serve Your Country” they said

“Be A Man” they said

“Come Home a Hero” they said

No one told me about the harrowing sights I would see

Nor the daily tragedy that cannot be erased from my memory

Every time I close my eyes I’m haunted by the agonizing sights

Like the gory grotesque gas attacks that polluted the lungs of the men,

sucking the life out of each and every one of them

The red sea of death, which follows me dripping onto my soul

I am stained by my actions

Gunfire rings in my ears like church bells

A daily reminder of my sins

I have bereaved a family of a son, a brother, a husband…

The smell of distinctive decaying flesh torments me - inescapable

“A life ruined” they didn’t say

“Become a murderer” they didn’t say

“Return an empty vessel of a man” they didn’t say

“Become another cog in a life destroying machine” they didn’t say

“Come home damaged, dazed and demoralised” is what they should have said.

DARK TRENCHES - By Michael McTasney

As I limped through the battlefield,

I heard the echoes of the helpless soldiers.

The snow was crimson.

I felt panicked.

Shots swept past me,

I quickly opened fire.

The nauseating aroma of blood lingered

I felt physically sick.

The huge bombs made bang after bang after bang,

My eyes blurred.

The trenches were dark

I felt lifeless.

The way he struck the ground,

The blood scattered everywhere.

I close my eyes

But he is always there.