This is a long poem/story , I hope the readers will indulge me. It is my reply to the Rudyard Kipling poem I posted to 'The Bay'. Though I think the few lines of Kipling him self are the best response. At the end of my poem/story.


THE COURSE OF THE PATRIOT WRITER! KIPLING!

Rudyard Kipling ,

Was in the garden , sleeping ,

So he did not see what ,

Was a coming

The sun shone bright,

Blinding him to reality ,

He wrote of the empire ,

On witch the sun would never set ,

Of daring do ,

The sun went behind a dark cloud ,

All was in total darkness ,

As Rudyard wrote in his poetry ,

Of how the sun would never set over the British Empire ,

He wrote of heroes fighting fore that British empire ,

Dying when need be , for the greater good ,

The sun behind a cloud slipped ,

Dark cloud's of war filled the sky , all over Europe ,

The Hun had invaded gallant little Belgium ,

The British empire was ready , as were not the British people ,

The dye was cast , the B E F , set out across the English channel ,

The battles were hard , the casualty's high ,

Local papers full of grainy photos of those who had died ,

Sons , fathers , dads , husbands , brothers , uncle's ,

All young , oh so bloody young ,

The war would be over by Christmas the paper said ,

The young men hurried to join the colors ,

Fight fore God , king and country , they were told ,

Kipling had a son , his name , John , known as , Jack ,

His only loving son ,

His only child ,

Now Jack was young , keen , young man , full of bravado ,

He'd read his fathers work believed his fathers evrey word ,

The courage of one so young , he was 18 ,

His eye sight was very pore with out his glasses

He could not see , blind as a bat ,

His hand he could not see , if it was touching his nose!

The navy told young Jack, ''no , young man , we can not take , you ,
You've failed the eye test'' ,

Young , Jack , was down cast , he went home to his
Mother and father ,

His mother was happy her son had been rejected ,

This she never showed , of course ,

'' Wears father?'' , Jack asked ,

''In the library , Jack rushed to talk to his father ,''father , father '' ,

'' carom , down , Jack ''

'' What's wrong? '' , Kipling , the father asked, his son ,

''The navy wont take me , father!!'' ,

Jack , said with tears in his eyes ,

'' What am I to do'' ,

'' Chiles , Rupert , Berty , too , all joined up '' ,

'' Steady boy '' , '' I'll see what I can do ''

He told his son ,

''Now run a long , leave it with me , Jack '' ,

Kipling the father over the following days ,

Pulled some strings , called in a few favors ,

And , Jack was in!

He joined the colors , gazetted to the guard's!

He was duly posted to France , with his regiment ,

Jack was sent to Loose with his platoon ,

An attack had been planed , against the Germans ,

They were ready for the battle , well dug in ,

Barbwire coved the ground in front,

As the dawn broke , Jack , stood with his men ,

Jack was nervous , his first battle awaited him ,

He tried to load his Webbly , he dropped the bullet'' ,

His batman , his servant , saw , he smiled ,

'' that's all right , sir '' '' it's chilly this morning aint it , sir '' ,

''let me , begging your pardon , sir '',

'' I should of got your gloves ,sir '',

The batman duly picked up the dropped bullet ,

And finished loading the webbly ,

'' Thank you , Smith '' , thanked , Jack ,

''Think nothing of it , sir '' ,

The N C O's , address the gathered men ,

'' Right you lot , fix bayonets '' , 18 inches of sharpened ,

Sheffield steal , now affix to the short Lee-Enfield ,

'' No dodering , no stopping , if your pale is wounded , KEEP GOING ,
FORWARD! ''

The shrill calls of officers whistles now filled the trench ,

Jack was almost late putting his to his lips ,

Jack , stood in front of his men , Jack , was younger than ,

Most of them he was to lead in to battle that day,

Jack climbed the trench ladder , Jack was now scared ,

He wet him self , and he hoped no one had noticed ,

But unknown to , Jack , he was not the only one who had ,

A stench could be smelt , some had indeed had shit them
self's ,

'' Ready men? '' and over the top they all went , Jack led
His men ,

Jack , had crosst a few yards , men fell all around him ,

Crying out in there agganey and pain ,

Jacks speticals sliped on to his nose , he could not see a thing ,

He tried to push back to cover his eyes ,

A bullet grazed his hand , knocking his glasses off ,

They landed on the ground , a soldier ran past trod on them ,

They lay broken ,

Jack , was now blind , he staggered on to wards the enemy ,

Jack was hit in the legs , down he went , a long with so many
More ,

He cried out in pain , just one voice in the chorus line of the
Dying ,

As the battle raged on all around Jack ,

No came looking for pore dying Jack ,

As Jack lay dyeing slowly , he cried out fore his mother ,

He died , his body lost it's flesh , it roted a way , his body
One of 15,000 dead at the battle of Loose,

His father and mother received the news ,

'' Second lieutenant John Kipling is missing believed killed in action'' ,

Father and mother devastated never got over , Johns death ,

They had no grave to visit , lays poppy's upon ,

Their son lay in no know known grave , his body rotted away,

His skeletal remains blown in to smithereens , dust ,

His father searched the hospitals in the vain hope ,

Jack had lost his memory ,

But he never did find his son John dead or a live ,

Years later , Kipling was to write:

'' If ask us why we died , tell them'' ,

'' Because our fathers lied ''.

ken d williams

The Dyslexic Wordsmith




















Poetry by ken d williams The PoetBay support member heart!
Read 708 times
Written on 2010-08-28 at 22:49

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The lies that our fathers tell us is often truth enough for us to conquer the world or be vanquished by vain and misguided dreams. Too sad for words Ken. Thanks for sharing.
2011-03-22


shells
This kept me interested all the way through Ken, a sad, poigniant, historical story. The guilt Kipling must have felt after having lied, must have been hard to swallow, only to be tempered with pride he must have also felt, that his son died in battle for his country.
2010-08-29