Poetry Break – “Let Me Tell You How I Died” – The Blitz

An Intro

When I was in high school, my brain was a fountain of poetry.  I wrote poems about everything.  Things that bothered me, events in the news, things that made me angry, or things that gave me joy.  I had files and files of poems, limericks, haikus… you name it, I probably wrote it.  Then, that well seemed to dry up.  Especially after I graduated college.  I got caught up in the many struggles of a young adult trying to establish herself, and as the years went by, I stopped trying.

After over a decade of being dormant, I recently decided to try tapping into that well again.  With some fresh digging (and some magnificent inspiration from the beautiful poems I have seen from many of you), it turns out my poetry well has not run dry at all.  Because after a few short poems to get my groove back, out spilled what I like to call my “Poem Epic” – a series of twenty-one poems split into three parts – World War II (Part I), World War I (Part II), and the Civil War (Part III).  Each part has seven poems each, written from the point of view of every-day soldiers and civilians who were killed in these conflicts.  Although the people in this epic are technically fictional, the poems are based on tragically true scenarios that played out time and again on the battlefields.  These are the forgotten people, who I feel would want more than anything to be remembered.

The passion for military history, and preserving the memory of these struggles of the past, runs deep in my veins.  So, I am very excited to share with you the first segment of Part I of the Poem Epic – “Let Me Tell You How I Died.”  More segments will follow in the coming weeks and months, between other posts that I am working on for you.  I do so hope you enjoy it.

M.B. Henry

LET ME TELL YOU HOW I DIED

PART I – SEGMENT 1 

The London Blitz

I see a dark room, with a flickering light

I hear a loud thunder, I can feel the fright

Things in the room, they start to rattle

Outside, I hear the sounds of battle

 

The planes fly over, they drop their pay load

The whole world rumbles, things explode

I try to pretend that I’m safe in this room

But I know any moment, I could meet my doom

 

It’s underground, stone walls, the doors are closed

People around me wonder in their night clothes

The dim light above us flickers and hums

My heart beats heavy, like the beat of war drums

 

Someone cries out, “please let them pass”

Then a loud explosion, shattering glass

That went off close, the people shout

The light above flickers, and then goes out

 

Then there is darkness, everything is black

My soul leaves the body, it will never come back

My body entombed in brick and stone

Where I died under London, at night, and alone

To Be Continued…