Impression sketch
of A Boy's Revenge - by Jamie.
Conveyed by a writer,
Gregori Pateroff,
A story from the
Russian Weekly -
Russkoye Slovo - told of a young boy
Aged 12 and his
deception of enemy.
At a certain
point of the enemy flanks,
One Cossack
patrol had managed
To break through, only
to come across
A peasant boy,
hidden amid grasses.
Unconscious, the
boy's breathing was
Almost
undetectable - a Cossack took
Him on his horse
to safety of a camp -
With attention
the boy came conscious.
With eyes
described as a feverish fire,
He gave account
of what happened
To him - speaking
in breathless words
To tell how he
encountered Germans.
The Cossacks
asked how this came
About, thinking
that he had wandered
Lost - the last
time had been Saturday
When a party of
Germans appeared.
The boy had
remained on purpose
At his village
alone, everyone else
Had fled - He remained with intentions.
He explained to
the Russian soldiers.
Having no fear,
as he knew the place
Well - with good supplies of food there.
As Germans
appeared he met them;
The latest being his fifth soldier's patrol.
They insisted on
his help to take them
About the village,
prompting him forth.
So the peasant
boy led them across
A Marsh - knowing each path was vital.
Dangers of watering off a route would
Lead to tragedy -
small and light the boy
Had a stick to
skip across grass clumps;
There in the marshes he led them astray.
There in the marshes he led them astray.
This was the
fifth patrol he drowned;
Stout heavy
Germans began to sink
Down and screamed
at him, close
To the trees
where mud was worse.
Sinking men took
fire, as he laughed.
Amid the trees he
watched them sink,
But wounded he remained
there from
Saturday to
Tuesday, to fall very weak.
The Cossacks
listened with close intent,
As one called him
a wolf-cub - to which
He then asked,
what were those men
Who had abused
his mother to death?
He had vowed to
her of taking revenge,
This he would do
as a boy - not waiting
To become a man -
the boy's intent eyes
Burned their
promise at the Cossacks.
His mother had
died, so should they
meet death - he would lead many more
Germans to drown them - But as slow
Germans to drown them - But as slow
Evening fell, the
boy slowly, quietly died.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1915. Peasants
Boy's Exploits - Germans Lured to Death. The Daily Telegraph,
[online] 18 November.
P.11. Col.1. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11994353/Daily-Telegraph-November-18-1915.html
[Accessed: 18 November 2015].
Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 18 November 2015).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Russia
No comments:
Post a Comment