3
days in and a country undergoes preparation to fight.
Then
comes news of these earliest days of conflict.
From
speculation finally comes confirmation,
Emerging
from the bleak sea fog of war.
Success
and loss as the navy has its first victim,
The
sinking of the scout cruiser HMS Amphion.
Strangely
there is underplay at the loss of life,
Reported
as being a ‘naval mishap’ hit by a mine.
Realities
being half the crew 131 men are lost,
The
minelayer had been the German Königin Luise
And
is sunk off Harwich by the destroyer ‘Lance.’
Surely
these men are the first to die?
Slow
sympathy arrives given for the Entente powers,
From
the self-declared neutral Americas.
Australia
too has head the word and rises to the call.
While
at home 85 more prisoners of war are made -
German
reservists unfortunate to be in Britain,
Happily
reveal how they are delighted with their fate.
Despite
rumours to enlist across the land,
There
is a call for cricket still to be played.
by
Jamie Mann.
Anon., 2014. Daily
Telegraph August 7 1914. The Telegraph, [online] 7 Aug. p.7.
Col.3. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11017189/Daily-Telegraph-August-7-1914.html [Accessed: 7th August 2014].
Mann, J., 2014. 100
years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 7 August
2014).
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