This poem was commended by judge John Hegley in the 2017 Caterpillar Poetry Competition
He didn’t want to be a soldier
But he didn’t have a choice
When your country calls you
You have to listen to its voice
He didn’t want to leave his town
For a life inside a trench
A funny thing to die in France
When you don’t speak any French
He might have been a butcher
Or a builder or a clerk
In slicks of blood on foreign soil
Is how he made his mark
He didn’t think he’d die in pain
Miles away from all he’s from
Calling for his mother
At the murderous, muddy Somme
He’d like to have been married
The 31 to Chalk Farm
But he didn’t get the chance
Nor would he be a father
Once he’d crossed the sea to France
So many things he’d never be
The sorriest of stories it’s important still to tell
You must remember to remember him
And all the rest who fell
Read about the competition in this Irish Times article
My poem was inspired by the #wearehere project in 2016
Jemima Laing 