One by One
The cold, the mud, the hunger
The explosions, the cries, the pain
The waiting, the loneliness, the fear
The memory is all that remains
The sleepless nights, the wakeful dreams
In the stillness and silence they are gone
One by one they are gone
* * *
They left their homes, their families
One by one
They marched together to the front
One by one
They fought side by side and died
One by one
Their blood stained the land
One by one
Their names were added to the list of the dead
One by one
Then the wounded went silently home
One by one
Down through the years they have left us
One by one
* * *
In our thoughts they remain
One by one
One by one
© Shawn D. Standfast, 2014. All Rights reserved
A Blog Less Traveled 
War is always sad. WWI was one of the saddest because they used archaic wartime strategies and new, horrible weapons. I watched several WWI movies a few months back and it was sadly horrifying.Your poem communicates some of that succinctly.
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Thank you for your comments. I am glad you liked the poem. War is never pretty. There is no way to fully understand what they went through. Imagination can only go so far.
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