Needing More Time Poem by John A'Hern

Out of the mouth, and heart, of an ancient
Came words that left me broken.
Stories of childhood in an English village,
Large families, parents struggling.
Bursting through to achieve unknown skills
An education, that left words unspoken.
A teacher appeared to everyone's gaze
He had found his chosen profession.
A war declared between Countries
He jumped to his countries defence
Gone in a flash, no goodbyes sent.
Standing with other young men
Orders given, obey without question.
Who oversees all these young men?
An officer comes to the front line
This man holds their lives in his palm,
Off we go to fight the enemy.
No enemy seen, shelling and loud explosions
An order given to move forward,
A hill that must be taken,
Off we go without hesitation,
Looks all fill the void and the intention.
Hill reached, survival in the thoughts of all the men,
Impossible to face such an onslaught,
Retreat orders given we gave thanks to Heaven.
Crawling through the scenery like cowards
Men praying, some crying
No shame given to all the actions.
Line of trucks all filled with humanity
Trucks in front, disappeared in cloud of dust
Confusion of how it could happen.
Spotted a tank just picking us off
Deserted trucks, as we ran for our lives
Cowering in the undergrowth.
Found by enemy looking for us
Came a voice, comrade or foe,
All stood up hands on heads
Our enemy stood before us.
Never seen a German before
Looked no different than us,
Lives were spared, prisoners of war
Spent several years in hell.
All so quiet, then one day, shells came raining down on us
In the confusion hundreds escaped,
In all this time, I had never seen death
Now it lay before me.
I cried at the loss of hundreds of men
No thought of them being my enemy,
Running, running until we saw soldiers
American forces just strolling along,
So many questions aimed at us.
Led to a beach with ocean full of ships
Led aboard and sent to freedom,
Arrived back in Blighty, smiling.
Walked down a lane of memories
Passing my school my smile broadened,
Stopped outside my Family house
Standing there unable to move.
A hand touched me on the shoulder
I turned to see my parents standing there
We hugged, no words were spoken.
Here I end a tale of mine
My time it is used up
Other days and other times
Will come to use it up, the Lord willing.