Christmas peace before pain resumes

The sound of rumbling and tapping is all that plays in every single soldier's mind.

The slow depressing repetition, day after day, week after week.

The dense clouds of shrapnel, mixed with smoke and human remains, float indecently in the crisp breeze.

Soldiers whining like new born babies, praying for hope.

The screams of bombs and whistling of bullets pierce the poor soldiers' ears as they huddle desperately into the damp mud of the murderous trench.

Bodies dropping like sandflies in the winter.

Terror fills every man's heart as he remembers old family memories, and cherishes every last word said to him.

With the sound of enemy planes in the distance, all hope is lost for the defenceless soldiers, as they had been abandoned and lost.

The 10 men brace themselves for the next 30 seconds, which will feel like hours of violent torture.

Four more soldiers fall face first into their graves.

Six remain, their forbidden freedom disappearing every second.

The enemy approaches silently in the cool winter night.

All of a sudden, a gentle hymn plays throughout the war stricken paddock.

Every man of every culture, portraying love and hope.

Carols and gifts are thrown like grenades between the enemies.

An hour of happiness drains out the years of pain.

‘‘Merry Christmas,'' shout the six men, who have now met life-long friends and never-ending memories.

The joy ends and the pain resumes.

Bullets shooting like arrows, piercing their friends.

The six men slowly die out.

One by one, they fall softly like snow on a happy winter night.

Full of love and sincerity, the solders lie peacefully asleep forever - buried side by side, by their opposite.

Tears fill the young men's eyes as they cover the last of the hole.

Devastation and hate flow like a river through their veins.

The unfortunate circumstances of war stole many lives from friends and family.

Their presence and memories remain in their minds like a vivid on a whiteboard.

-By Angus Macaulay, Year 11, St Kevin's College

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