Human Rights Poem (67): Warsaw

Robert W. Service

(source)

Warsaw, Robert Service

I was in Warsaw when the first bomb fell;
I was in Warsaw when the Terror came -
Havoc and horror, famine, fear and flame,
Blasting from loveliness a living hell.
Barring the station towered a sentinel;
Trainward I battled, blind escape my aim.
ENGLAND! I cried. He kindled at the name:
With lion-leap he haled me… All was well.

ENGLAND! they cried for aid, and cried in vain.
Vain was their valour, emptily they cried.
Bleeding, they saw their Cry crucified…
O splendid soldier, by the last lone train,
To-day would you flame forth to fray me place?
Or – would you curse and spit into my face?

September, 1939

More poems about war here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.