The Great Divide - Disquiet

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace

Behind the wagon that we flung him in

And watch the white eyes writhing in his face

His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs

10 million soldiers crossed the great divide

During ‘the war to end all wars'

4 years of carnage left the world without pride

A global conflict without remorse

Dulce et decorum est

Pro patria mori

Men degraded to cattle

Forced into combat

Used as pawns just to hold the line

Down in the muddy trenches

While falling prey to the plague

Along the endless Western Front

Wave after wave

Into the ceaseless line of fire

Wave after wave

Across the barren ‘No Man’s Land'

Where men were condemned to wither

Or forced to find a quicker death on top

Clashing bayonets under darkening skies

Running scared to an uncertain doom

Heading towards ‘a thousand yard stare'

Shell-shocked beyond redemption

Trying to avoid a tragic destiny

Beyond their 6-week life expectancy

Through holes and ditches

Grounds covered with bodies

Decaying limbs, festering lands

Buried beneath the fallen

Dirty knives and flooded rifles

Tons of shrapnel and debris

Wave after wave

Into the ceaseless line of fire

Where men were condemned to wither

Or forced to find a quicker death on top

Clashing bayonets under darkening skies

Running scared to an uncertain doom

‘The Devil Gun' fired with relentless pride

‘Landships' forever changed the face of war

Deafening blasts across the English Channel

A conflict never seen before

This is the face of inhumanity

Redefined on the battlefield

Thus not forget the songs of bravery

The heart ship of the infantry

Millions of souls buried deep inside the hearts of men

Still roaming the No Man’s Land

A game of numbers and little diplomacy

The Great War showed us all but mercy