God rest ye wretched kinsmen
Ye forsaken, calloused souls
Who fill the earth with fire and smoke
And riddle nature's hymn with bullet holes...
The cigar smoke smells of London pubs
The coffee, of early Paris promenades
The sausage, a rival to Vienna's finest
"Cheers, my brothers; merry Christmas Eve to all!"
God rest ye wretched kinsmen
Ye oblivious, ignorant souls
Card decks shuffle; "I win again--a straight!
I beseech thee, my German friend, here, here--
Let me see that beauty that hangs bout thy neck
For she is the finest thing my eyes hath seen."
"Alas, mein bruder," he grins with pride,
"She is my lovely Liesel, to whom I'll be wed
When I return again to her loving touch
She keeps me alive--those sparkling blue eyes..."
"Aye lads, cheers to Liesel!"
"Aye!" dozens of feminine names echo:
Aye, Marta, Danielle, Charlotte...
God rest ye wretched kinsmen
Ye fools who dream of homecoming
Midnight's struck; men embrace heartily
With shouts and exchanges of whittled birds and flowers
"Merci, mon copain, tu es tres gentil."
"Bitte shay," no friend nor foe aknowledged.
God rest ye wretched kinsmen
Who dream of adleweiss and olive sprigs
Ye poor fools who will wake tomorrow
To kill who tonight ye kiss.
...Bleed on me, mon frere
For I shall bleed on thee.
Aufweirderssen, comrade--
To death we hasten...
Author notes
On Christmas Eve, 1914, during WWI, the British ceased fighting with the Germans long enough to have a party and exchange food and drink. Here is the fictional account of what it was like.
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 7 of 7
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top notch
the language you used in this poem, and not just the foreign but also words like "ye", you don't used all that much. maybe it's just me that doesn't notice it. i thought your choice of words made this piece spectacular.
and what a time it must have been for the soldiers.
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from the commenting community...
It is strange that they would do that, but at the same time... it seems a good thing. They were at war, but when it comes down to it... they're all just men, fellow men with their own lives. They really are just the pawns.
Bittersweet really. I like the concept for the poem. Wish it had rhymed throughout like the beginning, or to give more emphasis at certain points though. -
you give excellent expression to an anomoly of history reading this is both pleasure and regret for the lost.
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What a time this must have been, for such a short few hours they treated each other as civil fellow human beings, celebrated Christmas, before again shooting to kill when firing. Something we hope never to have to experience in our own lives.
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this write reminds me of pirate of the Caribbean.. i am not familiar with this english but it gives a real good effect to the write.
great start and i wish i knew German.. fix the typo "heartily" & "whittled" in your third last para.
took me while to understand and your author helped a lot.. this write would be appreciated more by some experienced or related to this incident.
i liked your first and second para the most.. gives good picture to think about
thanks for sharing it..i really enjoyed reading it
take care
abdulla
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This is really interesting, something I'm not a fan of reading because the kind of words that was used, but I can safely say that I enjoyed. The strength of this poem is of course the story it is portraying plus what I like to call the "oldie style" of word use. Even with the confusing words to me it still had kept my attention throughout the poem. I did enjoy the flow of this piece so great job on delivering a perfct flow to help ease this poem into understanding. Great Write my friend!
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Ha! That's a great one. What a great telling of something smooshed away into history. I love it. ;D
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