(Death on the Somme, World War One)
Alfred was a cockney barrow boy
Bright and cheeky
Went to war at fifteen
Telling recruiting sergeant he was seventeen.
Promising weeping mother to return.
In France endured hell of battle
Plagued by lice in rat infested trenches
Walked ankle deep in squashy mud
Tried controlling terror
Determined to keep his promise.
Went over the top at the Somme
Bayonet charged German trenches
Fell wounded into a shell crater
Drowned alone in the mud.
Telegram boy called on Alfred’s mother
With news her son would not return
Almost insane with grief, she cried out
“Only promise my Alfred ever broke.”
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