Billowing curtains of smoke filled the air
Hiding the holes and the mud
Drifting and swirling they slowly revealed
Dead soldiers and rivers of blood

Slowly the smoke drifted over the trench
Uncovering the carnage below
Yesterdays orders to take the high ridge
Was met by a fearsome foe

Nobody knew just how hard it would be
Or how many brave men would die
Tommies were slaughtered in no mans grey land
Mown down and left there to die

One day of fighting is all that it took
For sixty thousand poor souls
To die or be wounded by murderous fire
Their blood now filling the holes

Brave soldiers were led into this conflict
By leaders – uncaring – inept
Existing in awful conditions
As colonels ate well and they slept

And so at this time of remembrance
Let’s pray for those who have gone
Those heroes who fought for their country
And sacrificed lives on the Somme