The Christmas Truce of WWI

A Soldier’s Demon A Soldier's Demon

In the fog of warBelieve me, unfortunately I know...A lot can happen in an instantIn the instant after clear and present danger reveals itself… Time then slows down, way down You hear bullets and shrapnel whizzing past you in slow motion, As if you could reach and pluck them out of thin air... It is in this moment that you realize that you may be dead… Before your next thought is able to collect itself in your conscience.

Your finger reaches for the trigger...You start shooting before you even aim... As if your entire existence depends on firing your weapon...You cannot think about anything other than survival...Not your past, not your family, and not your wife and kids...All the training means ABSOLUTELY nothing...No one in your training was willing to die in order to kill you…

Now you start to see red. Different shades of red. You feel anxious and cosy simultaneously. You feel inside of the whirlpool and yet on the outside of it as well...YOU FEEL PROFOUND AND SHALLOW AT THE SAME INSTANT...BRAVE AND COWARDLY AT ONCE...Right and wrong means nothing...only alive and dead are on your mind. WITH A WICKED DEMON AS YOUR SOLE COMPANION...While you wish for an angel in flight to pass by.

As the dust settles you wonder when, how and whyYour mind is dull, yet your body could begin to flyIs this the end or just another nightmare that will pass by …No telling apart the screams of the enemy from a friend’s death cry.

-Edward Porter

Works Cited Rees, Simon. "historicaleye.com". 4/28/10 http://www.historicaleye.com/index.html Rees, Simon. "historicaleye.com". 4/28/10 <http://www.historicaleye.com/index.html>"Christmas Truce of 1914".

History.com. 4/28/10 http://www.history.com/topics/christmas-truce-of-1914 "Christmas Truce of 1914". History.com. 4/28/10 <http://www.history.com/topics/christmas-truce-of-1914>

Baker, Chris. "The Christmas Truce of 1914". 4/28/10 <http://www.1914-1918.net/truce.htm>

Roberts, David. "War poetry 2010". 4/28/10 <http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/2010warpoetry.html>.