Gallipoli

 The men stood in the trenches

waiting for that terrible sound
The shrill whistle would soon tell them to die
They stood next to their mates
.... but they each stood alone
with no one to share the fear
that tore at their guts.....

The officer stood alone....
he would not climb the ladder
Climb the ladder and look over the top
at the merciless torrent of unseen death?
No.... not him.
He would stay below to make sure
that those men would climb....
that the men would climb and die.

Why did those men accept that death?
Why should they accept those insane orders?
The stupidity of the generals
who would send the men to die.
Those deaths had no value....
The dying men bought nothing with their sacrifice.

I wonder who would the bravest be....
the one who died for nothing?
.... or the one who would challenge the officer....

If you must order us to die, then lead us!

Be the first to face those bullets....

Show us how to die.

© Ian Croft May 2021

It must have felt great!

The photo is of long ago

smiling faces all in a row

There's Alan.... and there's John...

They were so good in footy

... part of every team.

You remember the day the image was captured

... it reminds you of good times

.... and friends who shared your feelings. 

I remember the pain

The pain of hiding from those tormentors

I remember the laughing faces.... who inflicted pain

It must have felt great to do that... 

.... to trap the ones who could not hide

To hit and humiliate 

To share the feeling with mates

.... the power of knowing that the victim 

is powerless.... and weak

It must have felt great to do that. 

OK... next photo.... 

This one is a staff photo.... 

Those teachers were so good.... 

full of knowledge and encouragement. 

You remember them well. 

I remember them too..... 

I remember the teacher who delighted in the power

.... to catch those boys and to able to punish... 

to inflict pain.... 

..... swinging that length of hose 

must have felt so good. The little boys surely deserved such pain.... 

I can remember the smile on his face.... 

It must have felt great to do that. 

I wish that I could look at the photos

and feel the way that you do. 

It would feel great to do that.

© Ian Croft May 2021

Light

Sometimes it seems impossible
that a ray of sunshine can pierce the clouds
Darkness will always defeat light .... or so it seems
The clouds are sometimes so dark
that I'm sure they must be solid!
Yet at other times the clouds are brilliantly white
..... and still the clouds stop the light?

Then I realise that if the light had been defeated
then I would not see the clouds!
The light ..... in defeating the darkness ....
allows me to see the dark clouds
The light also shows me the beauty
and magnificence of the towering clouds.

My depression can be like the clouds....
So dark and heavy that I feel that I cannot bear their weight.
Then you remind me that I only know depresion
because I also feel the absence of that weight!

I must rejoice in the clouds .... look on the dark times

with the power and joy of light.

© Ian Croft April 2021