The Lark Above The Trenches
by Muriel E Graham, WWI

All day the guns had worked
their hellish will,
And all night long
With sobbing breath men
gasped their lives away
Or shivered restless on the ice-cold clay,
Till morn broke pale and chill
With sudden song.

Above the sterile furrows war
had ploughed
With deep-trenched seams,
Wherein this year such
bitter seed is sown,
Wherein this year no fruitful
grain is strown,
A lark poured from the cloud
Its throbbing dreams.

It sang — and pain and death
were passing shows
So glad and strong;
Life soared triumphant,
though a myriad men
Were swept like leaves beyond
the living's ken,
That wounded hope arose
To greet that song.

My father was in the Navy during WWII. His older brother, a Marine, was killed at Pearl Harbor. The next younger boy was Army and went to Europe. The youngest had a heart condition so he stayed behind and worked making aircraft.

Remember to say "thank you."