A Hundred Bloody Yards

Private John Parr of Church End
Sixteen years he knew
With Middlesex Regiment scouts he marched
For his homeland and his King

In Belgium then at a place called Mons
He met his bitter end
Against German scouts he chanced to fall
The first of our war dead

Twas 1914 and summer shone
The fields were gold with grain
The best and brightest of the Empire marched
So few would see home again

The Great War opened up its maw
Great Fenris, the corpse wolf howled
Four years and sixteen million dead
Churned that golden earth corpse foul

11 November 1918, two minutes from armistice
George Lawrence Price of the 28th Canadian
Last son of the empire fell
In the shadow of the first

Four years and a hundred yards
Between the first and last
Sixteen million Great War dead
For a hundred bloody yards

At St Symphorien they stand the watch
Fenris the ever hungry bides
Lest our leaders forget the price
Of a hundred bloody yards

Cpl John T Mainer, Retired

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