"Christmas 1914...."

"Christmas Eve, 1914, stars were burning, burning bright

And all along the Western Front the guns were lying still and quiet.

And men lay dozing in the trenches, in the cold and in the dark,

And far away behind the lines, a village dog began to bark.

Some lay thinking of their families, some sang songs and others were quiet

Rolling fags and playing Brag, to pass away that Christmas night.

But as they watched the German trenches, something moved in no-man's land

And from far away there came a soldier, carrying a white flag in his hand.

Then from both sides, the men came running, crossing into no-man's land

Through the barbed wire, mud and shell-holes; shyly stood there shaking hands

Fritz brought out cigars and brandy, Tommy brought corned beef and fags

Stood there laughing, crying, singing, as the moon shone down on no-man's land.

On Christmas day we all played football, in the mud of no-man's land

Tommy brought a Christmas pudding,

Fritz brought out a German band

And when they beat us at the football, we shared out all the grub and drink

And Fritz showed me a faded photo of a dark-haired girl back in Berlin

For four days after, no one fired.

Not one shell disturbed the night

For old Fritz and Tommy Atkins, they'd both lost the will to fight.

So they withdrew us from the trenches, sent us far behind the lines,

Sent fresh troops to take our places- ordered guns; "Prepare to fire".

And next night, in 1914, flares were burning, burning bright.

The message came, "Prepare offensive, over the top we're going tonight!"

And men stood waiting in the trenches, in the cold and in the dark,

All along the Western Front the Christmas guns began to bark."

Mike Harding

I love this poem and find it really moving....a poem about an extraordinary event in World War One where for four days over Christmas, the soldiers at the Front put down their guns - many of them soldiers of just 18 years old - and walked into No Man's Land and played football and exchanged cigarettes and Christmas greetings. Then on the command of their superiors they returned to their trenches and began firing at each other again......the reality - and the insanity - of war indeed....