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Old March 3rd, 2023 #1
jagd messer
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: UK
Posts: 1,355
Default Iron Cross / Eisernes Kreuz

Where the Iron Crosses Grow.


Just came across this evocative poem, you may have seen it before but those who have not here it is ..


A thousand wars have left their mark,
On soldiers waiting in the dark.
Who meet with fate, the final blow,
In the place where iron crosses grow.


Who count the dead with haunted eyes,
Afraid that we might see the lies.
The victory march. The years of woe,
The place where iron crosses grow.


Where steel meets flesh, and crushes bone,
Where young men scream, or weep alone.
Where some die quick, and some die slow,
In the place where iron crosses grow.


Where blood once warm, now stains the leaf,
Where the dead are blind to living’s grief.
Where many come, but few will know,
The place where iron crosses grow.


Said one, ‘I will show you how we fight.
We rage against the dying light;
We rise to meet the deadly foe;
In the place where iron crosses grow.


‘Then I will show you how we die,
While cursing God. With choking sigh.
One final breath, and then we sow,
The place where iron crosses grow.’


A mother waits. Laments again
The madness that will blacken men.
Who reason spurn, and life forego,
In the place where iron crosses grow.


A thousand wars. The millions dead.
The wasted dreams. The words unsaid.
Eternal Flame. The marbled rows.
In fields where iron cross still grows.



Where the Iron Crosses grow




Moscow Museum






Red / Russian Army Museum Moscow 03 III 2023.



Ivan captured a Stalingrad bound train. 'Collectors eat your heart out'.