Christmas

A poem about Christmas Day in the first World War

No shells are screaming
It's Christmas Day
Alas tomorrow
Won't be this way
Once-brown trenches
Are white with snow
And there's a quiet
None of us know
Though it's soon broken
By religious song
The boys on my side
Start to sing along
French lyrics here
German words there
The melodies don't differ
So we don't care
My younger cousin
Climbs over the edge
No machine gun
Tears him to shreds
I follow too
And shake my foe's hand
Isn't life funny
In No Man's Land?