In Flanders
Fields, mostly green, dotted with redAs far as the eye can see
As far as a wounded man can walk in a day
Think back to days of WWI
Think back to John and his friend Alexis
Search for the patch of land when many lives were lost
Search for the memories they want to forget
Rows of crosses mark their final rest
Rows of soldiers fall, gently through the fields of grass
Hear the shots
Hear the cries
See the pain
See the futility of all this bloodshed
Of all this waste of youth
Of all this waste of generations
Fields, mostly red, remind us of the past
And pass the torch along
© Catherine Woods 2010
Aubade at Vimy
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Battle on April 9, 1917
We storm the ridge at 5:30 am.
Plan and rehearse.
More than 15,000 Canadian infantry,
four Canadian divisions,
we attack together for the first time.
Training behind enemy lines,
we use models to represent the battlefield.
Engineers dug deep tunnels from the rear to the front line.
Many had specialist roles as machine-gunners,
rifle-men, and grenade-throwers.
Plan and rehearse.
Devastating artillery barrage would isolate enemy trenches.
A moving wall of high explosives and shrapnel would force the Germans
to stay in their deep dugouts and away from their machine-guns.
Our artillery pounded the enemy positions on the ridge,
killing and tormenting defenders this past week.
Plan and rehearse.
Who of us will get to go home to Saskatchewan farms and Newfoundland fisheries?
We will fight for days, weeks, if necessary.
We will fight as one unit, as one nation called Canada.
Plan and rehearse.
We storm the ridge at 5:30 am tomorrow.
© Catherine Woods 2017
D Day
A day we must not forget
The beach was long and sandy
The troops were sitting ducks
The sky was filled with clouds
The boats kept coming
The Germans kept shooting
The Allies kept dying
We keep remembering June 6, 1944
© Catherine Woods 2017
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