I visited the British War Grave site at Monte Cassino in Italy, and felt a great deal of sadness there, for such a waste of so many young people’s lives.
About four thousand graves are there, following on from a long battle in 1943/4 by allied forces to retake a Monastery on a mountain top overlooking the grave site.
Everything today is very peaceful, neat and tidy, with little evidence of the bloody battle which had taken place all those years ago……even the Monastery which had been totally destroyed at the time, has now been completely rebuilt.
Hello dearest father and mother
Come sit by my grave for a rest
It’s been a long journey from England
And I know you’ve been doing your best
Plant a few flowers at my graveside
In respect you came to this place
It’s clear that you hated to come here
I can see from the look on your face
Everyone cheered when I left home
But I’ll bet their not cheering now
All these young lives just wasted for nothing
Now people just come here and bow
I’m sorry I never came home again
That was never my intention at all
I just climbed up the mountain, when ordered to
And perished on that Monastery wall
Thousands of us marched together
Knowing many were about to be lost
We were following orders….that’s all we were told
Some orders !…..just count up the cost
Look around at all of these gravestones
Four thousands, all ages and casts
None of them wanted to be here
Not one live was worth being lost
So what was this fighting all meant for
A few worthless acres of land
Our blood shed on Italy’s dry soil
When we only came to give them a hand
But what did this venture teach us
Would we do it all over again
Will millions more still have to perish
For a fight so utterly insane
And now I must stay here forever
While you go and get on with your life
Take these memories home to my children
Say goodbye to my dear loving wife
Yes, my greatest regret is about her
That I’ll never see her again
And the sight of my two lovely children
How can we ever explain
So now it is time for you going
Don’t worry….I’m only here sleeping
Yet I still don’t know why this all happened
But please, no more sadness or weeping
3 comments:
What a beautiful and thoughtful poem.
I enjoyed reading it.
Just beautiful !
Thank you so much for these wonderful lines. My grandad served at Monte Cassino and understandably never talked of his time there. I remember him today and all the other brave men on both sides who gave their lives there
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