Remember Me Tomorrow

I wrote this poem for Remembrance Sunday 2021, but, in reality, we don’t need to wait until a certain day to remember the many who sacrificed so much so we could have our tomorrows. For all who served and for their families who suffered. May we always be grateful.

Remember Me Tomorrow

When I was young, with a head full of dreams
I felt the future was sure to be fine
But along came the war, and suddenly it seemed
My future may run out of time

My sweetheart, so scared when war was declared
For our journey had not long begun
I was conscripted to fight, I wasn’t prepared
My legs trembling, I wanted to run

My mother, she cried as we said our goodbyes
I tried hard not to show her my pain
I forced out a smile as I looked deep in her eyes
Not sure if I’d see her again

Life in the trenches was an absolute hell
Living in fear of an imminent attack
Packed in like sardines, the disease, and the smell
Missing home and yearning to go back

I was too young to die and didn’t understand why
As I trembled in the trench in the rain
Comrades by my side, shivering under the evening sky
Trying to comprehend the horror and the pain

I longed for my life, to make my sweetheart my wife
Much thumbed letters kept close to my chest
It was kill or be killed, I had to take life
So much trauma and fear and unrest

I was only a lad, with a mum and a dad
Ending lives of others just like me
I dreamt of the life I could have had
But it was sacrificed so you can be free

© Maxine Bailey