I also love this war poem, I first heard it in a movie called Memphis Belle, it's a very old war movie and this is a wonderful poem, I especially love the last three lines.

An Irish Airman Foresees His Death

"I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love;
My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan's poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death."

-- William Butler Yeats


This is a poem I wrote two months ago after reading heaps of war poems because war poems are amazing and I wanted to contribute something for the people who were lost so I wrote this... it's not very good.

Anyway, for lack of a better name I called it "Remember the Lost"

"There just in front lay the many dead
Their bodies deep with a bloody red
No one knew just how they died
But every man had nearly cried

The ground was sealed full of their death
Of men who?d taken their last breath
There?s a road they all walk down
Before in their own blood they drown

The soldiers of this mighty war
Have seen what we have never before
How much do we owe these men?
The ones who never returned again

Why do we seem to look and stare
And only for our lives do care
No one seems to know the truth
About the bravery of these youth

Who fought so hard, who really tried
To keep their country and their pride
Who knows the names of these men past?
Who were freed from war, death classed

Who knows the pieces of these men?
That lay around the fields back then
Are they to be always forgotten?
Left alone to become just rotten

Pictures in our memories
Are not enough for men like these
They fought and died for you and me
A picture of our history

If we do remember them
Compassion from out hearts will stem
Let us not forget the diggers
Pulled down by cold, relenting triggers"

-By Me!