Christmas Day 1916 - Lament - Lyric Critique

by John Knight
(Cambridge, UK)

Author: John Knight
©2011 John Knight

Christmas Day 1916

The rats and mud
Smell the fresh blood
A letter to my Mom
Death's all around
This cold damp ground
Snow is dusting the Somme

What a strange way
To spend Christmas Day
Here on a straw filled bed
My best friend Freddie
Is dead already
Loud silence creeps through my head

The Captain he blew
On his whistle: one, two
The signal to lay down our guns
We climbed to the top
And with one final hop
Stood face to face with the Huns

Our voices the same
He said his name
I told him mine too
I saluted this soldier
Who looked no older
Than me, and I'm twenty-two

In strange disbelief
He smiled through his teeth
In the crisp frosty air of the night
Silent Night in the air
And we all stood there
Just moments from resuming the fight

The second sharp shrill
Was the signal to kill
The Captain was waving the flag
Then turning away
I bid him “Good-day”
That moment was all very sad

The guns stood still
As we all felt the chill
Where the war had only just been
I went back to my trench
To the filth and the stench
Of Christmas Day nineteen sixteen