First Day of the Somme, 1 July 1916

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100 years ago today:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_day_on_the_Somme

THE FARMER REMEMBERS THE SOMME by Vance Palmer (1885-1959)

Will they never fade or pass!
The mud, and the misty figures endlessly coming
In file through the foul morass,
And the grey flood-water ripping the reeds and grass,
And the steel wings drumming.

The hills are bright in the sun:
There's nothing changed or marred in the well-known places;
When work for the day is done
There's talk, and quiet laughter, and gleams of fun
On the old folks' faces.

I have returned to these:
The farm, and the kindly Bush, and the young calves lowing;
But all that my mind sees
Is a quaking bog in a mist - stark, snapped trees,
And the dark Somme flowing.

The dead marshes.

Tolkien derived his Dead Marshes scenario from his horrendous experiences in the Great War. He was fortunate to survive unmaimed (physically, anyway). Several of his dearest friends were killed in the war.