Author Topic: War Poems  (Read 1028 times)

Offline Jochen

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War Poems
« Reply #15 on: September 04, 2001, 06:57:00 AM »
Roses are red
Violets are blue
USA owns all
I hope they dont sue
jochen Gefechtsverband Kowalewski

Units: I. and II./KG 51, II. and III./KG 76, NSGr 1, NSGr 2, NSGr 20.
Planes: Do 17Z, Ju 87D, Ju 88A, He 111H, Ar 234A, Me 410A, Me 262A, Fw 190A, Fw 190F, Fw 190G.

Sieg oder bolsevismus!

Offline Kratzer

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War Poems
« Reply #16 on: September 04, 2001, 03:18:00 PM »
Ispar - the song is actually called 'and the Band Played Waltzing Matilda', and while I believe it is a traditional song, it was covered by the Pogues.

Here are the lyrics:

When I was a young man I carried my pack
And I lived the free life of a rover
From the Murrays green basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over
Then in nineteen fifteen my country said Son
It's time to stop rambling 'cause there's work to be done
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
And they sent me away to the war
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we sailed away from the quay
And amidst all the tears and the shouts and the cheers
We sailed off to Gallipoli

How well I remember that terrible day
How the blood stained the sand and the water
And how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter
Johnny Turk he was ready, he primed himself well
He chased us with bullets, he rained us with shells
And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell
Nearly blew us right back to Australia
But the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we stopped to bury our slain
We buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
Then we started all over again

Now those that were left, well we tried to survive
In a mad world of blood, death and fire
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
But around me the corpses piled higher
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over tit
And when I woke up in my hospital bed
And saw what it had done, I wished I was dead
Never knew there were worse things than dying
For no more I'll go waltzing Matilda
All around the green bush far and near
For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs two legs
No more waltzing Matilda for me

So they collected the cripples, the wounded, the maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where my legs used to be
And thank Christ there was nobody waiting for me
To grieve and to mourn and to pity
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
Then turned all their faces away

And now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
And I watch my old comrades, how proudly they march
Reliving old dreams of past glory
And the old men march slowly, all bent, stiff and sore
The forgotten heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask, "What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question
And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men answer to the call
But year after year their numbers get fewer
Some day no one will march there at all

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me
And their ghosts may be heard as you pass the Billabong
Who'll come-a-waltzing Matilda with me?

Offline Rude

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War Poems
« Reply #17 on: September 04, 2001, 03:26:00 PM »
"The Mustang" a poem by Rude.

Astronauts drink tang
young boys chase poontang
others prefer to gangbang
I just want my Mustang

Thank you very much.

Offline Kratzer

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War Poems
« Reply #18 on: September 04, 2001, 03:34:00 PM »
Speaking of popular Irish-ish music, Dropkick Murphy's have some good stuff about soldiers, etc.  Often it is thinly veiled metaphor for something else, but taken literally they are good songs as well.

The Legend of Finn MacCumhail
This mighty soldier
on the eve of the war he waged told his troops of lessons learned from battles fought:
"May your heart grow bolder like an iron--clad brigade"
said this leader to his outnumbered lot.

Known as a hero to all that he knew,
long live the legend of Finn MacCumhail!
The brave fearless leader of the chosen few, long live the legend of Finn MacCumhail!

A Faraway Coast
Here in the trenches the fist of the Beast
For fear of an atmosphere poisened deceased
With a gas mask to keep me-from breathing my death
It's American soil I hope for at best

But the duty I serve can't begin to compare
To my ancestors battles and wars through the years
Though the loneliness strikes like an enemy shell
I pray for my home but still sit here in hell

chorus: Sail away to a place that's unkown
taken away from my friends and my home
to a place they call sacred a place I call hell
I long for that corner I once knew so well

Go to the grind it's all that I have
Work on and on with nothing to show
But a graying face in this dying place
Thats a lock in my solitude

I think of a place on a faraway coast
Where friends are dear and there's reason to toast
A cloudy dark images of a Middle East land
Comes down and wrecks my hopeful land


This one isn't about war, per se, but about men dying before their time... I just like the chorus:
the Curse of a Fallen Soul
So may this round be on the corpse of a dead man
With a toast that tells of a love you never shared
So as we dance on the grave of the misbehaved
Raise your glass! And sing the praise of a fallen soul.