The Lord-Lieutenant’s
Award for Young People
A collection of poems commemorating the
Centenary of the First World War
The Lord-Lieutenant’s Award for Young People was established by Lady
Gretton in 2006 to identify, celebrate and reward the very best young
people in Leicester and Leicestershire. During the four years that the
country is marking the centenary of WW1 the Lord-Lieutenant’s Award is
featuring a special category dedicated to the centenary.
The 2015 Award featured a poetry category. Young people were invited to
submit their poems which captured….





the
the
the
the
the
mood of the nation
horror of trench warfare
camaraderie of soldiers
sense of loss
impact on family and loved ones
….through the medium of poetry.
This booklet brings together those entries as a tribute to the work of the
young people who submitted their inspirational and moving poetry.
No one now knows we gave our life for this country
Our blood is the red flower underneath the prettiest tree
Once I was part of a crowd; but for this country
I fell proud
My blood flows through the ground, the earth grows sad
The red flower shines like a crown of honour
That flower is my love for this land. My blood.
Grief overwhelming those left behind like a flood
Yesterday our country was crying for 'help'
Today it stands tall.
In 1914 we fought and thought of you
In 2014 you are remembering us with no such fuss
The sky is blue, the red flowers wait patiently for you
We had to go to war, we had no choice
Now please remember, raise up your voice
My story finishes here, remember me…
Forever near
Rabia Akram and Wajiha Iqbal (aged 12)
Moat Community College
__________
Remembrance
Think of those that died in the war,
Reflect, respect and do not ignore,
16 million lives lost,
In sun, rain, wind and frost,
100 years to remember.
The poppies, they grew,
Families left sad and blue,
Husbands, brothers and sons,
All left with their guns,
100 years to remember.
Four years to fight,
With courage and might,
Now every November,
We are silent together
100 years to remember.
Sasha Law (aged 12)
Leicester High School for Girls
All is Gone
We’ll walk for miles
And break our backs,
Tear apart
Our feet for rest,
Then fall beside
Some poisoned water,
War is hell, boys,
War is hell.
The cause is right,
But we aren’t winning,
Our leaders die
Beside the lost,
And my heart aches,
My friends are falling,
I think we’ve lost, boys,
I think we’ve lost.
Run back home,
To find your homestead
Blown apart
By bombs we dropped,
Scream out a prayer
Above the skulls friend,
There’s nothing left, boys,
There’s nothing left.
Pick up their bones now,
And make a pile,
There are no faces
Just scraps of flesh,
One wears a ring
And it’s your mothers,
It’s time we wept, boys,
It’s time we wept.
We’ve lost the war friends,
We lost our family,
The whole regime
Goes marching on,
But looking up
I can’t forget them,
All is gone, boys,
All is gone.
Pixie Hulme (aged 18)
Longslade Community College
__________
I'm broken, in more ways than
Two pieces of a whole.
I'm scared, in my head
You're still here.
I know, it's a dream
But I can't seem to wake.
If only things were different.
I'm crying, though I can't feel
Any tears on my face.
I'm alone, without you
Forever by my side.
I know, I can't change
History as it is.
If only things were different.
I'm silent, and sure
Because I know now,
That there are others like me.
But if only things were different.
I'm ok, as ok, as I can be.
As long as I have you in my memory.
I'm not broken, not scared,
Not crying or alone.
Not anymore.
Things are different.
Julie Xiao (aged 17)
Loughborough High School
Now That He Is Gone
That fateful day when we received that little yellow square,
That changed our lives forever, the old and new are
beyond compare.
Everything is different, now he has gone,
I just can't picture it, how will I carry on?
How long did he suffer? How did he die?
Winning
These questions will haunt me as time goes by.
entry
I see him lying in a pool of crimson blood,
All alone in fields beyond fields and mud beyond mud.
I feel a sense of loss,
Amongst all sorts of terrible chaos.
Could I have done something? Could I have helped more,
In this devastating time of war?
The only thing that helps me is knowing,
That even though it is very hard going,
It's not just us, others have lost too,
Because our loved ones are fighting for me and for you.
Holly Cheeseman (aged 13)
Loughborough High School
Fallen Angels
By Saskia Rafal
If I should die on this very day,
Do not shed a tear,
That is not what I want.
Tell my mother I died fighting,
As the hero she knew I was.
I watched many of my men go,
I know the effect it can have,
We were all one big family,
With our strong brotherly bond,
Now we go as the family, we made in this war.
Tell the nation not to mourn,
We want them to celebrate,
The victory we have made
We may have all lost our lives
But we did this all for them.
Now it’s time for the lights to go out,
And our hurting to stop,
We will always have our scars,
Both good and bad,
But we know from these scars we always did our best.
Now where our bodies once lay,
A field of poppies take our place,
You pin them on your shirt
To always remember those
Fallen Angels
Saskia Rafal (aged 15)
Stephenson Studio School
_________
The ABC of War
Armoured cars carry ammunition,
along the front lines of the battle.
Bunkers blitzed by burning bombs
while battleships bombard the beaches.
The cavalry charge through chilly countryside
to crush the enemy on horseback.
The planes dominate dogfights in the skies above
while dodging and deceiving the enemy.
Connor Gray (aged 17)
Get Set project;
helping local young people with additional needs (learning
disabilities and mental health issues) to build new skills
and confidence.
Letters to home.
You're all lined up, row by row,
No matter were you friend or foe.
I cried and waved, as ten by ten,
The regiment began to march again.
Each month we gathered the uncertain news
That some had fallen and some were bruised.
My greatest fear was that your name was one;
One of the perished, one that was gone.
Each day was ferocious, for you we were sure,
But for us we didn't know if it was death at our door.
'Come home!' We would pray 'Come home my dear boy!'
But this seemed to encourage, encourage to destroy.
So now I must come to that one fatal end
The news I'd been waiting for, the letters that you'd send.
The pen was not from your hand, nor from your friends.
Instead the font was bold, black and pretend.
My boy I am sorry, your body was not found,
Instead you are alone, lifeless on the ground.
I'll see you in heaven and remember that smile.
We'll be reunited as mother and child.
Helen Grigalis (aged 17)
Loughborough High School
__________
Waiting for Battle
Hell approaches.
59, 58, 57,
I tremble, playing.
43, 42, 41…
My bayonet locks on.
35, 34, 33,
I pull back the bolt.
29, 28, 27…
Death lurks, I can feel the approaching thunder.
23, 22, 21,
I climb onto the ladder.
18, 18, 17…
The sergeant removes his pistol.
13, 12, 11,
The shells pound the field.
8, 7, 6…
I straighten my helmet.
3, 2, 1!
Go!
The bullet hits me!
Max Coleman (aged 14)
Rawlins Academy
We Will Remember Them
The eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh
month,
We will remember them.
Those whose stories were never told
Those whose lives were carelessly sold.
Loss after loss recurred
Yet so many families never heard.
The absence of a father, husband and son,
The death of sixteen million will forever stun.
With every bang and explosion
The soldiers resolve faced erosion.
Fears of going over the top
As in increasing numbers, soldiers began to drop.
Behind the frontline, life was not much better,
Shell fragment, cries of pain, a dead mans unopened
letter.
The pungent smell of a rotting corpse
Piled on others disfigured and warped.
There were no cheers for those who reached home.
From prewar
a stark change in mood and tone.
A soldier’s 1914 excitement replaced with chilling
nightmares of horror
Whilst families mourned their loved ones who gave their
lives in honour.
The eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh
month,
We will remember them.
Dhianna Hindocha (aged 17)
Skeffington
Remember
I stand looking around me
Watching as soldiers drop like flies.
If I go, I hope I will be remembered
For giving my life to serving the king,
Doing the country proud.
Keep going, must keep going.
20 seconds more, another falls to the floor
Goodbye sweet world
And remember…
Remember us.
Ana Hills (aged 14)
Rawlins Academy
Runner
-Up
Whistle
The calm before the storm, that's all this is,
Quiet because soon the whistle will blow;
When the whistle blows, we'll go over the top,
Guns raised against the hated enemy.
If we refuse to go, we'll be shot for cowardice,
If we go, we'll be shot by the enemy for bravery;
It is better to die for a cause than for cowardice,
It is better to die with honour than with shame.
An officer stands up, a whistle at his lips, an apology in his eyes,
It seems like eternity, waiting for the sound that will
send us through the gates of heaven;
It is a small sound, but is heard clearly in the unnatural quiet,
We climb the ladders and run.
Two weeks later telegrams arrive at the homes of many
young soldiers, Killed in action.
Annabelle Sherry
Fenny Drayton
__________
Frontline Ghost
I started as a soldier, happy as you could be.
I danced amid the gunshots,
even though they were the death of me.
My comrades were shot down, I was standing on post.
That’s how I got my name, I am the frontline ghost.
It was the 6th of September, 1917.
Nine o’clock in the morning, when the bullet embedded in me.
My shrieks of torture lasted for a minute at most,
It was a quick and mournful death, I am the frontline ghost.
Shot down. We lay unknown.
Heart stopped. Chilled to the bone.
Missing. Never to be found.
Remember me, as you tread along this ground.
They stole my rations, they stole my soul.
They stripped me away, I had no control.
They captured my body, they became the host.
The rats are the reason I’m empty; I am the frontline ghost.
Never be scared, never be afraid.
You help your family, save a comrade.
I died a hero at the most,
And I proudly stand as the Frontline Ghost.
Faye Adams and Sophie Sutton (aged 13)
Kibworth High School
Waiting for Peace
Bullets were being fired
As my heart began to pound.
Echoes of the gunfire
Overtook every other sound.
My thoughts they just aren’t with me
The battlefield is where they are.
My friends they keep on dying
So long… au revoir.
Positioned in the trenches
The earth was always rumbling.
Smoke filled the air
As towns nearby were tumbling.
Religion, land, greed and power,
It had to be one of those
For why else were we fighting?
That’s the way it goes.
On the 11th of November
As the beautiful bells rang
Peace was spread across the land
Slowly soldiers smiled and sang.
Rebecca Gregory (aged 14)
Rawlins Academy
__________
The Enemy Approaches
Blood all around
The enemy approaches
Bombs hit the trenches
The enemy approaches
Dying men scream
The enemy approaches
Death lurks everywhere
The enemy approaches
We wait for fate
The enemy approaches
Sergeants scream commands
The enemy approaches
My friends are crying
The enemy approaches
Gunshots fill the air
The enemy approaches
The shelling comes to a stop
We go over the top.
Edward Hefferman (aged 14)
Rawlins Academy
The Letter in World War One
It’s sad to hear the sorrows,
Of his family back at home,
To know that I have to tell him this,
All on my own.
His wife writes up the wording,
It glides across my page,
About how he had to leave his home,
At such a young, young age.
I’m placed into an envelope,
And thrown inside a sack,
Then, carried to a station,
Upon an old man’s back.
Then, finally, I get there,
He opens me and reads,
His lip begins to quiver,
His heart begins to bleed.
I tell him to be strong,
And how his family loves him so,
That he shouldn’t have to do this
And suffer all alone.
Then finally, he finishes,
He closes me and cries,
I feel the pain he’s suffering,
I see it in his eyes.
But now, at least, he knows they’re safe,
His daughter, wife and son,
And all that I am,
Is a letter in World War One.
Amber Beresford (aged 13)
Rawlins Academy
__________
Innocent Blood
A mouse sits on no man's land,
The Dark surroundings bleak and bland,
Neither side does dare to shoot,
The innocent beast by means of brute,
The fear it shines in the bright eyes,
The terror made by years of lies,
And all troops vow to try their best,
The mouse knows not of human fight,
It lives only to expect the light,
Innocence runs in its own blood,
As it trembles in the cold, brown mud,
For the mouse is it simply fair,
To leave its tiny body there?
Briony Havergill (aged 14)
Lutterworth High School
RIP
I am deceased.
Trembling, we looked over the last hill.
Hearts beating like a drum, waiting
Hearts racing, sprinting, anticipating.
The whistle sounds,
We surge courageously forward,
Boots stamp,
A steady beat,
A chaotic world.
Friends drop like snowflakes
Melting into the ground,
Unremembered,
As the gun shot sounds.
I am gone
But keep fighting until the cease
Or the snowflakes will not
Rest in peace.
Anna Prockter (aged 14)
Rawlins Academy
__________
Heroes of Forgotten Days
Sunshine is gone, I only see grey
Rats are crawling where I lay
Wish I had a bit more time
Laying here in my prime.
They fight in this desert of dirt
With pride, not revealing their hurt
Their lives are ordered and strict
What happens next they cannot predict.
They put their lives on the line
Blood and dirt, there is no shine.
With every single fearful breath
A second closer to his death.
True heroes to us, they shine like a star
Even though they are so very far.
These men and women truly amaze
We’ll cherish them till the end of our days.
Georgia Barton and Hannah Ferris (aged 14)
Kibworth High School
The Game of War
Left, right, left
Their feet move of their own accord
Left, right, left
Their arms are swinging,
Left, right, left
Runner
They are marching.
-Up
Away from their hopes,
Throwing away their dreams,
Leaving them to drown in the dust.
The birds are singing –
The last bit of music they’ll hear –
For as soon as they reach the treacherous mud-filled trenches,
The notes are silenced.
Their thoughts will shatter,
Their eyes will sting.
And their final breaths will be those of smoke.
Left, right, left
Their final footfalls echo.
As they plummet to the ground,
Their weapons are dropped,
And their eyes look skyward.
Their minds begin to wander,
Their senses begin to leave,
And their heart reaches out to everything they have left behind.
Their final thoughts go to those back home,
As they travel to dance amongst the poppies.
Phillipa Hathaway (aged 13)
Rawlins Academy
The War Poem
S is for soldiers who fought in the battles
O is for the orders given out by the officers
L is for leaving behind family and friends
D is for danger that this horrible war brings
I is for injury to brave boys and men
E is for explosions caused by the guns
R is for respect for the soldiers we remember
Shelby Potter (aged 17)
Get Set project;
helping local young people with additional needs (learning
disabilities and mental health issues) to build new skills
and confidence.
And
And
And
And
I wrote this poem with…
Mud and water everywhere,
Fighting in the war you forget to care.
This will be death for a thousand men.
I wrote this poem with just a paper and
Shells exploding,
Guns reloading,
This will be death for a thousand men.
I wrote this poem with just a paper and
Machine guns roar,
During the Great War.
This will be death for a thousand men.
I wrote this poem with just a paper and
Mustard gas stains the air.
I kneel down and say a quick prayer.
This will be death for a thousand men.
I wrote this poem with just a paper and
pen.
pen.
pen.
pen.
Honor Thorne (aged 14)
Kibworth High School
__________
Check Mate
As I march through the trench, I look at the
black and white world around me.
I can see bravery. I can see death. I can see terror.
I can see the way the soldiers have been betrayed.
They have been turned into pawns
who are about to be taken by the king.
I climb up the trench, and step onto the chessboard.
White moves first, as it always does in chess.
I hear bombs. I hear shots. I hear screams.
I hear cries as the soldiers are taken like pieces.
I shut out the chaos around me and move forward,
one step at a time.
I miss my family and my home. I miss my friends.
Like me they are small pieces
ready to sacrifice themselves for a good cause.
I miss a normal life which seems so safe.
I miss playing football, cricket and tennis.
But right now, I can only play chess.
I am heading towards my death. I am heading towards a bullet.
I am heading towards pain, cold chaos and horror.
I am heading into a war, a terrifying and emotional place.
I have reached the other side of the board.
I take a knight, whose horse rears up and bolts away.
I see their king. This is the end. Check mate.
Oliver Rouse (aged 14)
Loughborough Grammar School
In the Trenches
Back before the War there was peace on earth.
Then in the mere year 1914, War was declared.
By the late months of 1914 all the world’s armies...
Prepare for the first Great War, the largest the world shall see.
There shall be no war like this
It will be the most severe loss rate
May the Lord bring us home
I once knew a soldier named Otto
Who was in the Wehrmacht
We once sang Silent Night
We heard each other from both trenches
We both advanced towards the No Man’s Land
Our comrades did not get it at first
But after they saw that the Germans didn't open fire
All the British never opened fire
And then we had a truce on Christmas day
Both forces would not ever open fire on each other
Nor they kill
But that was short lived
The next day we went back to doing what we were used to
And went back to war and the truth was never spoken of again
Me and Otto remained best friends and we got the
chance to meet once again at the peace treaty known as Versailles treaty.
And then we were old and forgot the times.
Diary of CPL.R.H.M.H.D.L CPL B. Miller
3rd Royal Highland Division
John Bars (aged 14)
Get Set project;
helping local young people with additional needs (learning
disabilities and mental health issues) to build new skills
and confidence.
__________
you leave home at eighteen fresh faced
eager to prove yourself, your worth
you catch the glory bound train,
only to find you’ve left all you knew
for a myriad of unfamiliar faces
you’ve built a new family come nineteen
the men in your company
arm in arm you stand
closer than your family sitting around your old dining table
they still leave a place for you even now
you ship out, barely twenty
still clinging to hope,
head held high,
unaware of the blood soaked fields you will soon walk
when you wish the gun you were clutching was the hand
of your first love
the reality hits you like artillery
leaves you reeling
grasping
you don’t stop shaking for days
you lose yourself by twenty one
somewhere in the trenches
through rivers of red
between soot stained craters
a sea of death
buried among the fallen and forgotten
gone is the hope you harboured so proudly
medals, glory material
all you hope for now is the safety of the few brothers
left to you
all you hope for now is life
you stumble home at twenty-two
though the word feels wrong in your mouth
the streets you grew up in
are more foreign than the shore you landed on,
the people you once knew and loved
may well be strangers
they call you brave, a hero
and those words feel wrong too
you cannot explain what you’ve seen
what you’ve done
you cannot comprehend what you’ve lost
Vishal Patel (aged 14)
Loughborough High School
__________
For The Fallen.
As stars are known to this twilight night,
we look upon those lost and found from the fight.
Who played their role in the tragic show,
100 years ago.
Faceless names and nameless faces,
the silence heard in different places.
but among the silence and devastation,
music’s heard in the kernel of desolation.
Their families waited for the day they returned,
their fathers, husbands and sons.
but never did they dream of that dreaded turn,
when they got the knock on the door, saying they will
never come home.
Behind the lines and sunken lanes,
Crosses scatter the fields where they lay,
no cause can justify the sacrifice made,
It was a blood bath we could have stayed away.
They died in the wires,
the trenches, the fire,
always a man falling,
always a gun firing.
The opposing strike,
with surprise on their side.
on that winters day,
one million shells were fired away.
Blood, mud and horror,
is what the trenches had to offer,
littered with corpses and limbs,
it was the safest place they could’ve been.
when the opposing appeared,
but did not give fire,
live and let live,
is what the troops decided.
Men adapted to war,
and war adapted to men,
with death at every door,
our hearts were always with them.
Fighting fire with fire,
only causes more flames,
900,000 killed,
and not one nation to blame.
They’re in our hearts, our hearts of believing,
they’re in our minds, our minds forever grieving.
Hazel Kidd (aged 15)
Ibstock
__________