the staccato claps of 
the crowd, shoots
sharp echoes.  

echoes

of a thousand round thunderclap,
and bowed spectral khaki
floating on wire.

of dogged tries,
landed on autumnal Yorkshire mud,
sliding punches of joy. 

of the class of 1914
dismantled, stiff and agape
in cold French mud
punched by painful numbness. 

of old boys in mud smeared uniform 
fading with the dissipating crowd
into distant dreams. 

A. M. Walsh is a lawyer and writer residing in England. He writes poetry with a focus on military history. He is the author of a forthcoming work on German heavy panzer units of the Second World War.