<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=420203" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Carpenter(via Appia,23/03/44)</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">The Warden roused them early<br>on this, their final day.<br>He marched them out on hobbled feet-<br>Grey trucks took them away.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Doctors, lawyers, engineers, <br>All captured in a raid.<br>German Soldiers had been killed<br>Reprisals must be made..</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Fathers, Husbands, sons all caught<br>within the Nazi snare.<br>Among them was a carpenter<br>Who bowed his head in prayer.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He’d walk the hills of Rome no more<br>Nor touch a lover’s check<br>Here, near the Via Appia<br>He’d find eternal sleep.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Five by five they entered in<br>to the foreboding cave.<br>There they knelt for benediction, <br>the kind that pistols gave.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The cave became a charnel house<br>Each man shot in the head.<br>It reeked of blood and excrement<br>Flies feasted on the dead.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The carpenter fell once or twice.<br>Can blood for blood atone? .<br>His killers coveted his coat<br>and forced him to disrobe.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">By now they had grown sloppy<br>with drink and hate and fear.<br>The first shot missed completely<br>The second grazed his ear.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">In seconds live eternities<br> He said his final prayer: <br>“Forgive them, Father, even this<br>done out of hate and fear</div><div style="margin:10px 0">several shots rang out just then<br>each found his noble head<br>they shot him once more, in his side<br>to make sure he was dead.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Explosions rocked and sealed the cave<br>With tons of rock and stone<br>They didn’t think to post a guard<br>The grey trucks drove back home.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=John+F.+McCullagh">John F. McCullagh</a><div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <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=420203" data-title="The Carpenter(via Appia,23/03/44) de John F. McCullagh" data-description="The Warden roused them early on this, their final day. He marched them out on hobbled feet- Grey trucks took them away. Doctors, lawyers, engineers, All captured in a raid. German Soldiers had been killed Reprisals must be made.. Fathers, Husba..."></div> </div> </div>

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