The order comes
From down the line,
And quickly passes on.
We're hunkered down
In our own holes,
Feeling scared,
Not feeling bold.
Of all the words
Used in command,
There are two
That chill my sweat.
I hear them still,
I can't forget:
"Fix Bayonets!"
The morning light
Is barely born,
The mist is still arising
When someone in
The jungle deep
Prepares for our
Surprise.
A distant bugle,
Strange to us,
Sounds forth
In clarion call
To let us know
Their intent:
To kill us
One and all.
It's tough enough
To face a man
Some thirty yards apart,
A lookin' down a rifle
Aimed at his beatin' heart.
But when you look
Him in the eye,
And fend him
Left or right,
There is a scary feeling as
You know you've got to fight.
You know it's
Him or you
Right then,
There ain't no time
To think.
For one of you
Is gonna die
Within an eyeball's blink.
For most of us
Who fought the war,
Times like those
Were rare.
Thank God
For all his goodness,
My precious life
Was spared.
So when I see movies
And hear those words again,
The chilling of the moment
Is still locked well within.
by Cpl. Robert L. Cook
Jan. 42~Sept. 45
Ok so I’m not going to ask you to fan me because I didn’t actually write any of these except one or two of them… but I do ask that you comment and vote these poems mean so much to me and a lot of people all across the world.
