Don’t tell me any more 
Of the First World War
About Harry and Jack 
Off to the trenches
With rifle and pack,
Kicking a ball
And passing it back.
Lured to their deaths 
By an officer ass,
Drowning in mud,
Lungs full of gas.
The end of the war!
All throw up your hats.
Millions of dead,
Millions of rats
Feeding off corpses. 
All fat as cats. 
Europe fell ill
From rat-born malaise.
Millions more dead, 
Millions more graves. 
Our political masters
Knew just what to do.
They blamed it on Spain –
The ol’ ‘Spanish flu’.

William Long, 
Lushes Road, 
Loughton.