Poem on the Battle of the Somme

Hello everyone! So for a school assignment we had to pick a historical topic and write a poem on it. So I chose the opening day of the Battle of the Somme.

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“The [Somme] offensive began at 7.30am on 1 July 1916. Many of the infantry who went over the top were volunteers of 1914, including Pals battalions made up of friends, relatives and workmates serving side by side.” -IWM.com
“The first day of the Somme was the deadliest day in British military history – of the 57,470 British casualties, 19,240 men had been killed.” -IWM.com

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The heat presses down on our necks
We climb out of the trench

Lambs to the slaughter
I cannot see for the dirt in the air

They said it would be simple
They said it was honorable to die
They said
They said
They said

Fighting for the Crown
Yet as they die 
It is only ‘Mama’ that I hear around me

The bodies fall back down the moment they rise
Suddenly weighing tons

I cannot find my brother
I cannot find my friend
I cannot find the milkman

My ears are ringing
The machine guns go rat-tat-tat
Bringing down ten
Fifteen
Twenty
Fifty more men

And we are not human
Humans do not let each other
Crumble in the mud, 
forgotten by the faceless leaders
Humans do not blow each other
Apart like this 
Humans do not
Humans do not
Humans do not

And we are only pawns on this board
We are only players in this game
We are only lambs in this slaughterhouse

Pawns
Players
Lambs

Humans no more

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“I find that a duck’s opinion of me is very much influenced over whether or not I have bread.” -Mitch Hedburg