Lest We Forget Gallipoli
A misty cloud protects the cliffs
As boats creep swiftly forward,
Sliding through the oily sea,
Timings set to beat the dawn.
The timber crunches quietly
On the gravelly beach-head’s sand,
All breaths are held, knuckles white-
What waits for us on land?
Peering keenly at the crags,
The first man steps ashore
straining eyes trained on high,
To catch the first glimpse of his war.
Suddenly the sky’s ablaze!
Machine-guns deathly rattle
Splits the silence, guns and bombs
Now lads, you have your battle!
Proud boys crowded in those boats
As the sea-lords bid them forth
To freedom and for Empire,
Take the cliffs then cut through north.
Yet waiting for our dreamers,
Dug in tightly, set in depth,
Was Attaturk’s defenders,
The architects of death.
Then on raged a fight;
Those misty cliffs they ran with blood
As generations of the finest
Forged their names in lead and mud.
We lost the battle, and the next,
Yet fight on did we still,
To earn respect and honour
All throughout those war-scarred hills.
When dawn awoke one day,
Abdul set his final slaughter,
But as he charged he met jam-jars
And rifles fired by water!
Years 105 since that fateful launch
To take Gallipoli,
So ask yourself – what would you do
To keep your homeland free?
Lest We Forget
By Greeny 2020
FILE PHOTO: Australian Army Musician Dave Leaders, Gallipoli 2017.
Photo by Able Seaman Kayla Hayes.
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