Smorgasbord Poetry – Colleen Chesebro’s Tuesday Tanka Challenge 152 – Double #Etheree -Young Soldiers by Sally Cronin

After being away for two weeks it is time to get back into the swing of Colleen’s Tuesday Poetry Challenge 152 and this week being the first challenge of the month, it is ‘Poet’s Choice’.

It is Remembrance Sunday in the UK and at this time I like to pay tribute to my grandfather who was killed on November 2nd 1918 after serving from the start of war, being wounded three times, and then being killed just 9 days before the Armistice. My mother was just over a year old.

This year, I thought I would write a double etheree to honour all young men who ended up on the front lines. And in the image is a haiku from a previous year.

Double Etheree – Young Soldiers

Young,
eager
full of fire,
they stand in line
waiting for orders
that will force them into
leaving their boyhoods behind.
In the trenches rank and muddy,
where rats scurry amid the clutter,
final cigarette butts fall to the ground.
The whistles blow and driven by duty,
a khaki wave flows into action,
straight into a hail of bullets
that only few will survive.
In those first dire minutes,
an eternity,
they push forward
just to claim
one more
yard.

©Sally Cronin 2019

If you would like to participate in this week’s challenge here is the link: https://colleenchesebro.com/2019/11/05/colleens-2019-weekly-tanka-tuesday-poetry-challenge-no-152-poetschoice/

As always delighted to receive your feedback and thank you for dropping in … Sally.