EDITORIAL
Not 'Art for art's sake'

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

For King and Country

Tightly packed, darkened boats
Slowly approached the shore.
Slipping across the crystal sea
The men prepared for war.

As dawn approached silently
Shadows casting deathly gloom.
The men tightly clutched their rifles
Awaiting their impending doom.

Shells and bullets thundered overhead
As men trudged waist high in water.
Scrambling onto the sandy beach
They awaited their next order.

They were proud to be a solider
Doing their bit for their mother land.
War was 'romantic', a big adventure
And they stood tall upon the sand.

Then suddenly they all moved forward
And joined the frontline men.
Crawling across ragged rocks
And into a lion's den.

Crouching low within a filthy trench,
Bullets whizzed close overhead.
And those that found their target
Soon rendered that man dead.

Awaiting the command to attack
A long line of men lay low
While holding tight their weapons
They let their prayers outflow.

But suddenly a grenade exploded
Just before landing in the trench.
Flesh and blood flew in all directions
Adding to the deathly stench.

But they had to ignore the carnage
A lifeless form that was a mate.
And stand up to face the enemy
And risk a similar fate.

But waves of fierce Turkish attack
From all sides began to flood.
Soldiers ripped apart by waves of bullets
Until the ground was red with blood.

Arms and legs were blown off
And heads suddenly exploded.
Thousands of casualties were evacuated
And then on to ships were loaded.

Bodies piled upon each other
Rotting in the brilliant sun.
Brought plagues of rats and swarms of flies
And more death than by the gun.

But this was the life! A big adventure!
Patriotism ran in their blood.
To have a gun and murder men
And crawl through bloody mud.

To witness thousands of killings
Until you become numb to all the gore.
War was all part of being a soldier
And fighting in a war.

But if you fought in this battle
You cannot claim a victory.
Because only a few men of thousands sent
Returned from Gallipoli.

Their bodies torn and mutilated
Were left in the ground to rot.
Nothing but a name engraved in stone
Which the world has now forgot.

But he was once a loving father
A close friend, a respected boss.
Blown out of existence by a violent world
Which is ignorant to the human loss.

War is a futile waste of life and money
This we have learnt throughout history.
If there was ever a prime example of this
It would be in Gallipoli.

Daniel Parkes