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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=368044" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Sword</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">There's a sword affixed in a glass case, <br>There on a western wall.<br>There's a photo there of a soldier<br>Who answered his country's call.<br>There's of the sword, a story to tell; <br>And of men - how the dice may fall.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">In the east ‘neath the rising sun, <br>With his family gazing on, <br>In a uniform smartly fitting, <br>Stood an officer of Nippon.<br>At his side swung his sword - katana, <br>And to war he would soon be gone.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">From his people were gifts bestowed: <br>A small book of prayers to take, <br>And a camera to record<br>The conquests their son would make; <br>So his family's photo he took; <br>In the book he would keep the keepsake.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The sword of his samurai forebears, <br>Fitted with ancestral blade, <br>Temper and balance so perfect, <br>Forged true - by true craftsman made; <br>There on its handle so ornate, <br>Three cherry blossoms were laid.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Sharkskin it inlaid the handle, <br>Tassel showed officer class, <br>Perfect the fine crafted pommel, <br>Shone bright its high polished brass; <br>Proud was he of this fine weapon; <br>On to his sons it would pass.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Triumphant in battle it served him<br>Until the fighting it turned<br>To defeat for the forces of Nippon; <br>Here was their might to be spurned: <br>By another Imperial Army <br>At Balikpapan, as Borneo burned.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">There as the officer bravely<br>Brandished his sword in the fight, <br>Gunfire and shell fire around him, <br>Smoke of war - oil and cordite; <br>Surged on the valiant diggers, <br>Hopeless the Japanese plight.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Never surrender - his motto, <br>There with his comrades he died, <br>Amongst the corpses - the carnage, <br>A digger sergeant he spied <br>A sword in the officer's dead hand, <br>Its scabbard lay there at his side.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Weary of death was the digger, <br>Still for some reason he took, <br>There from the dead man's shirt pocket, <br>A stained and a tattered small book -<br>It fell open, and there on the first page<br>Was the picture the officer took.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The digger he took up the sword, <br>And he slipped the book into his pack; <br>His young eyes showed no trace of feeling, <br>He strode off and didn't look back; <br>He'd hardened himself to war's horror, <br>But humanity he didn't lack.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">So now when a visitor questions<br>The history of that old sword, <br>Says the old man - it's there to remind him<br>When nations with others are warred, <br>How soldiers who fight for their country, <br>May take bloody death as reward.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">There's a sword affixed in a glass case, <br>There on a Western wall.<br>There's a photo there of a soldier<br>Who answered his country's call, <br>And a bloodied book, beneath the sword<br>That tells of a soldier's fall.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>In memory of: <br>QX13210 Sgt A.N. O'Brien,2nd 31st Bne.7th Div AIF</div><div style="margin:10px 0">and of an unknown Japanese officer.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Dennis+N.+O%27Brien">Dennis N. O'Brien</a><div class=q>
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<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=368044" data-title="The Sword de Dennis N. O'Brien" data-description="There's a sword affixed in a glass case, 
There on a western wall.
There's a photo there of a soldier
Who answered his country's call.
There's of the sword, a story to tell; 
And of men - how the dice may fall.

In the east ‘neath the rising sun..."></div>
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