ramblings and things

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One hundred years gone
The memory of The Pals lingers on
As historians still argue
Why and how it was ever begun.

We were lions led by donkeys they said
When those Cousins decided to go to war,
Less than a year, over by Christmas! 
But it lasted for more than four.
Kitchener said we were needed
And we responded to his call
For years of slaughter mud and trenches
And far too many millions gave all
 
For God King and Country they said
But it was all in the name
For Cousin Kaiser Billy's lad were told
Pretty much the same
And they made us advance
Into withering fire
Across a sea of mud
And onto barbed wire.
 
Bully beef and hard tack in the trenches
Five course dinners in the rear at HQ
Sheer hell for the many
Home comforts for the few
The General Staff toasted the port
While the trenches suffered hell
From the whine and roar 
And impacts of the shells.
 
Come the peace those Flanders fields
Soon covered in the scarlet red
Of ranks of nodding poppies
Standing where our mates had bled.
Cousin Kaiser Billy abdicated
And was very soon gone,
Cousin George in England
Just carried on.
 
The land fit for heroes 
Was put on hold
Gratitude like porridge
Soon grown cold 
And the peace they negotiated 
Took reparations and much more
And laid the foundations
For the next bitter Great War.

One hundred years gone
The memory of The Pals lingers on
As historians still argue
Why and how it was ever begun



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Centennial 1914