THE ABATTOIR AT MAZINGARBE
The push for Aubers Ridge had been postponed
because of rain. But the Saturday
was dry and sunny. Going up the line
in the early evening, the battalion
stood easy at the shrine to Our Lady.
‘…in remissionem peccatorum…’
By noon, next day, nearly half were dead,
caught on the German wire Haig’s ill equipped
artillery had, once more, failed to cut.
In Mazingarbe, an industrial town
ten miles south, the British commandeered
the abattoir. The first to be shot at dawn
was a Munster regular from Cork.
‘…in nomine Patris…’
Alex Cox
November 22, 2012David, you are really on a roll. ALL this batch of poems are wonderful. Keep up the good work!
The Inky Writer
December 12, 2012I really like the opening lines – “The push for Aubers Ridge had been postponed because of the rain” – the awfulness of war alongside the humdrum everyday-ness of rain.
Baranowski Casimir
May 25, 2015I live in Mazingarbe, within 500 meters of the old abattoir, your poem moved me ………