大象传媒

"You don't hear the shell that kills you!" they said.
Not true at all; not true;.
We knew with absolute certainty,
I and my signaller knew.

"This is it!" I said and we cowered down;
They had said "You will turn to God!"
Thats just tosh! I was cursing the Boche.
When the shell hit the ground with a thud.
(a thud??)

The trench edge it hit and it spun away
Tumbling, unburst, into mud.
More than one failed to explode that day.
I wondered who'd made it a dud.

Some slave worker from Prague perhaps
Or one of the luckier Jews,
Or someone from Antwerp, or Budapest
Left out a small part of the fuse

Did he live through he war? Was he found out and shot?
Did he die of severe malnutrition?
I wish I'd been able to give him my thanks-
Mt thanks for that vital omission!

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