Jim Sularz

KINSHIP

Caught a Kinship from Ellis Island,
sailed to craggy shores across the pond.
Burnished bayonets shimmered in a bright warm sun,
on a Western Front by dawn.

Surging waves of men in full retreat,
pungent death was everywhere.
Screams from sweet smelling poison gas,
were mere whispers, through burning tears.

The War to end all Wars came to an end,
but the end, would never really come.
While the hearts and souls of military men,
were made of tanks, battleships, and bigger guns.

A Kinship sailed West from Isle and sea,
to Lady Liberty’s beckoning shores.
But Versailles, punished the Innocent with a bitter price,
sowing seething hatred, a blinding fear,
a World at War,
once more and near.

Author’s Note: I wanted to submit a poem to honor those that fought in WWI. They have all passed on, but their memory will always live on. The mistakes that were made with the Versailles Treaty came back to haunt us, with the rise of Adolf Hitler and the next tragic war – WWII.