WHERE THE POPPIES WAVE
Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2011 8:54 pm
WHERE THE POPPIES WAVE
© John Peel 24/11/2010
He came from a land where the wattles grow
to fight in a war with a foreign foe,
to fight for what is just and right
and never for the sake of a fight.
He was only young and the winds of chance
had taken him to the fields of France
away from Queensland’s sunny skies
to the sounds of guns and the dying’s cries.
In his mind this young man longed to be
back home on a farm across the sea
not stuck there in that field of death
where the stench of corpses stalled his breath.
He was caught up in the foe’s attack
his mind could only take him back
to be with loved ones by his side –
a bullet struck and that young man died.
He lies in a field where the poppies wave
when the breezes blow above his grave –
to men like him, we owe a debt,
lest we forget! Lest we forget!
© John Peel 24/11/2010
He came from a land where the wattles grow
to fight in a war with a foreign foe,
to fight for what is just and right
and never for the sake of a fight.
He was only young and the winds of chance
had taken him to the fields of France
away from Queensland’s sunny skies
to the sounds of guns and the dying’s cries.
In his mind this young man longed to be
back home on a farm across the sea
not stuck there in that field of death
where the stench of corpses stalled his breath.
He was caught up in the foe’s attack
his mind could only take him back
to be with loved ones by his side –
a bullet struck and that young man died.
He lies in a field where the poppies wave
when the breezes blow above his grave –
to men like him, we owe a debt,
lest we forget! Lest we forget!