Ww1 german prisoners

[Fouro]

GERMAN PRISONERS.

When first I saw you in the curious street,
Like some platoon of soldier ghosts in grey,
My mad impulse was to smite and slay,
To spit upon you- tread you 'neath my feet,
But when I saw how each sad soul did greet
my gaze, with no signs of defiant frown,
How from tired eyes looked spirits broken down,
How each face showed the pale flag of defeat
and doubt, despair and disillusionment,
And how were grievous wounds on many a head,
And your garb red-faceed was other red,
And how you stooped as men whose stength was spent,
I knew that we had suffered each as other,
And could have grasped your hand and cried "My brother".

FOURO

[Fouro]

Re the above poem,
It was written by Joseph Lee, Scotland's forgotten war poet. Perhaps one reason why Lee escaped recognition was his working class background. Joseph was clearly bright, but had to leave school at 14 and take a job in a lawyers office. He found this job boring, so he did a few long trips at sea as a steamship stoker. When war broke out in 1914 he joined the 4th Batallion of the Black Watch at the age of 39. He was what was called a Fighter Poet. He fought in the trenches in France, was promoted to sergeant and ended up with a commission as Lt in the Kings Royal Rifles.

FOURO

[gray_marian]

Thank you FOURO, Had not heard of Joseph Lee until now.
"Every bullet has its billet
Many bullets more than one:
God! Perhaps I killed a mother When I killed a mother's son."

Ballads of Battle Paperback – 19 May 2009
by Lance-Corporal Joseph Lee (Author)

[Fouro]

Re post number 3.
I'm surprised you didn't know about Dundee's forgotten war poet Marian. In my opinion, the poem above is the sort of poem which would be worthy of pride of place in a Remembrance Day thread, as it gives people a basic understanding of the "brotherhood" of supposed enemies.

FOURO.

[Keith at Tregenna]

The Green Grass

Poem

The dead spake together last night,
And one to the other said:
‘Why are we dead?’

They turned them face to face about
In the place where they were laid:
‘Why are we dead?’

‘This is the sweet, sweet month o’ May,
And the grass is green o’erhead –
Why are we dead?

‘The grass grows green on the long, long tracks
That I shall never tread –
Why are we dead?

‘The lamp shines like the glow-worm spark,
From the bield where I was bred –
Why am I dead?

The other spake: ‘I’ve wife and weans,
Yet I lie in this waesome bed –
Why am I dead?

‘O, I hae wife and weans at hame,
And they clamour loud for bread –
Why am I dead?’

Quoth the first: ‘I have a sweet, sweetheart,
And this night we should hae wed –
Why am I dead?

‘And I can see another man
Will mate her in my stead,
Now I am dead.’

They turned them back to back about
In the grave where they were laid –
‘Why are we dead?’

‘I mind o’ a field, a foughten field,
Where the bluid ran routh and red
Now I am dead.’

‘I mind o’ a field, a stricken field,
And a waeful wound that bled –
Now I am dead.’


They turned them on their backs again,
As when their souls had sped,
And nothing further said.

………………………………….

The dead spake together last night,
And each to the other said,
‘Why are we dead?’


Joseph Lee

[Fouro]

Thanking you Keith for entering The Green Grass as it is regarded as one of the best Joseph Lee poems. I submitted "German Prisoners" into my army forum and the response it got was massive. I headed the thread - A Poem for Remembrance Day.
Re the poems above, they are entirely different. When reading The Green Grass, the poem creates an imaginery mental picture of dead soldiers speaking to one another. When reading German Prisoners, Joseph Lee describes the living truth of physical and mental suffering he actually witnessed whilst looking upon German Prisoners. This is why poems like "German Prisoners" in my opinion, should be considered for viewing on Remembrance Day.

FOURO.

[Fouro]

Sir Winston Churchill said:
If mortal catastrophe should overtake the British nation, historians a thousand years hence will never understand how it was that a victorious nation suffered themselves to cast away all that they had gained by measureless sacrifice. Now the victors are vanquished and those who threw down their arms are striding on to world mastery.
Germany the country who threw down its arms in 1945, now rules over Europe under the leadership of Angela Merkel.

FOURO

[vic mcclymont]

Fouro you should send that to Cameron, Corbyn and Farron.
Regards
Vic.
Ps not forgetting wee Burney.

[happy daze john in oz]

Have to agree with #7, Germany the vanquished now the conquer of Europe. It may have taken longer than Adolf imagined but it has happened. We get quite a bit of news here in Oz of what is occurring in EU and for me it is not all good.