Samurai Competition
The steel blade of the sword flashed in the bright sunshine.
Second Lieutenant Toshiaki Mukai clutched the handle in both hands.
He raised the weapon high towards the sky and took a deep breath.
And then, with a powerful strike,
He slashed the head of the young Chinese man kneeling before him.
He smiled.
Did Second Lieutenant Tsuyoshi Noda win or lose?
On route to Nanjing, the two officers
Of the Japanese Imperial Army were
Competing with each other for being the first
To behead 100 people.
The competition was not a war crime, they said,
But in the Samurai spirit of kiri sute gomen,
The ancient feudal era custom
That authorized the Samurai to execute by sword anyone
From the lower classes who compromised the warrior’s honor.
The Japanese media liked the idea of the beheading contest.
Newspapers celebrated it with enthusiastic reports.
They explained that cutting heads strengthened military character,
Increased patriotism and public support, as well as army moral.
The Tokyo Nichi-Nichi Shimbun covered the contest
Of cutting 100 heads with a series of articles.
“Incredible Record”, announced the newspaper
In its December 13,1937 headline:
“Mukai beheaded 106, Noda 105”.
The Tokyo paper also claimed that the two officers decided
To start another competition with the aim being 150 severed heads.
During the Fascist invasion of China and in World War II
Soldiers of the Japanese Imperial Army treated people
In the occupied territories as inferior lower classes and slaves.
Beheading by sword became a common war crime in the Asian theatre.
Yet Japanese officers saw it not only as an antidote to faintheartedness
But as a grand act of heroism.
By the end of the Second World War an estimated four million soldiers
And perhaps up to sixteen million civilians lost their lives in China.
poem by Paul Hartal
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Related quotes
Massacre in Nanjing
On a clear winter day you can see from Tokyo
The snow-capped volcanic cone of Mount Fuji.
Towering to a height of 3,776 meters on Honshu Island,
About 100 kilometers south-west from the capital,
The majestic mountain is a staunch symbol
Of the Land of the Rising Sun.
During the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945,
Hirohito's armies invaded China, carrying along
A fascist banner of samurai honor and pride.
The Japanese Imperial troops
Advanced with brutal force,
Committing dreadful atrocities
Against prisoners and civilians.
They reinterpreted bushido virtues and believed
That their war crimes elevated the splendor and glory
Of Mount Fuji to new heights.
Articles published in November and December 1937
In the Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun reported the exploits
Of Japanese Imperial Army officers Toshiaki Mukai and
Tsuyoshi Noda, who on the road to Nanjing competed,
For being the first to behead 100 Chinese with a sword.
Okumiya Masatake, a Japanese officer,
Was a witness to the atrocities.
He was a principled aviator in the Imperial Navy,
Serving in Jiangsu.
He was shocked by the carnage he saw in China.
On December 12,1937,
He participated outside Nanjing
In the bombing and sinking
Of the American Gunboat USS Panay
In the Yangtze River.
A few days after the sinking of the Panay,
Okumiya rode a chauffeur-driven car,
Searching for the bodies of downed Japanese pilots.
It was then that he had witnessed
His Majesty's Imperial Troops
Perpetrating gruesome Massacres.
In the streets of Nanjing, Japanese soldiers
Were slaughtering indiscriminately
Chinese men and women, young and old.
On December 25 and 27 of 1937,
Okumiya photographed in the capital
Piles of innumerable bodies of Chinese people,
Lying unburied along the Yangtze River
And on the shores of Xuanwu Lake and Xuanwu Gate.
Once he came upon a terrible scene of executions.
About twenty soldiers of the Japanese Imperial Army
Forced a large group of Chinese to sit on the river bank.
The prisoners' hands were bound behind their backs.
The soldiers beheaded their victims by the sword.
One warrior after the other approached
A kneeling prisoner and drew his sword.
The soldier raised the weapon with both hands,
Its blade glittering in the bright daylight.
And then with a swift and savage sweep
He struck at the prisoner's neck.
The severed head rolled into the river.
When Okumiya asked why the troops execute
The prisoners by sword instead of shooting them,
An officer replied that killing by sword
Saved ammunition.
Okumiya was immersed in his homeland
In the violent culture of the sword.
He was well-aware of its pivotal role
In Japanese history.
Nevertheless, he was shocked by the executions.
The officer's explanation lingered on in his mind
With an unnerving persistence.
Although he was a disciplined naval officer,
Loyal and ready to die for the Emperor,
He still felt that what he witnessed compromised
The samurai way of the warrior, dishonored the spirit
And soul of the bushido.
The reign of terror in China began in 1937,
When the Fascist Imperial Army of Hirohito
Invaded the country.
After three months of brutal fighting,
The Battle of Shanghai ended in late November.
Then the Japanese army marched all the way to Nanjing,
The historical capital of Six Chinese Dynasties.
On December 10,1937, the Japanese mounted
A fierce assault on the walls of the city.
After two days of heavy artillery fire
And aerial bombardment
The Chinese army retreated from Nanjing.
Gunboats of the Japanese fleet were cruising
In the Yangtze River.
By nightfall, on December 13, the historical capital fell.
The Emperor's forces entered Nanjing
Through the ancient city gates.
The masses of defenseless civilians
Trapped in Nanjing
Became prey and pillage of Fascist bestiality.
Brutal crimes of looting, arson, rape and murder
Were perpetrated everywhere.
Soldiers of the Japanese Imperial Army
Roamed savagely the streets.
They entered every household,
Searching door to door for females.
And it did not matter
If they were young or old or pregnant.
The troops gang raped thousands of women,
Stabbed them to death with their bayonets
And then mutilated their bodies.
Entire families had been murdered in cold blood.
Men were shot through the head or the heart.
And the soldiers killed even the babies.
They also used young men for bayonet training
Stabbing the screaming victims repeatedly,
Or beheading them by their swords.
Historians estimate that in the horrible war crimes
Committed at Nanjing
The Japanese army slaughtered
Between 200,000 and 300,000 people.
The soldiers raped tens of thousands of women.
Yet in this tragic epoch of Chinese history
There were still beacons of light that shone through
The long and cruel nights of barbarism.
Confronting the bloody maelstrom of atrocities
A few courageous foreigners in Nanjing
Risked their lives and came to the rescue.
These righteous Europeans and Americans
Helped many people to escape.
They hid and protected
Thousands of Chinese men, women and children
From the massacres.
One of the rescuers was
Bernhard Arp Sindberg of Denmark.
When the war broke out Sindberg worked as a driver
For the British journalist Pembroke Stephens.
One day in Shanghai,
They climbed a water tower to observe the fighting
And Stephens was killed by a machine gun salvo
Fired from a Japanese airplane.
Shortly before the occupation of Nanjing,
Sindberg moved to the capital.
Here he was employed as a guard
At a concrete factory in the city,
Owned by a Danish firm.
During the massacres he flew the swastika flag
To protect approximately 6,000 Chinese refugees
Camping on the factory lot.
Another foreigner
Who saved thousands upon thousands
From Japanese brutality
Was the German businessman, John Rabe.
Employed by the Siemens AG China Corporation,
He helped to establish the International Safety Zone
Of Nanjing.
The Safety Zone had sheltered
Approximately 200,000 Chinese men, women
And children from the massacres.
Ironically, Rabe was a member of the Nazi Party.
However, he was a conservative man fostering
Traditional values and he had a compassionate heart.
Displaying the swastika at his house
And presenting his National Socialist documents,
Rabe negotiated, argued and protested
With the Japanese military in order to keep
Hirohito's troops out of the Safety Zone.
He even wrote Hitler a letter
Requesting him to interfere
With the Japanese authorities
To stop the bestial bloodbath.
The Fuehrer did not reply.
When Rabe returned to Germany,
The Nazis forbade him
To lecture about the Japanese war crimes.
Another angel during the dreadful days
Of the Rape of Nanjing was Minnie Vautrin,
An American missionary and Dean of Jingling College.
She harbored and protected up to 10,000 women
At the school.
She kept a diary in which she had recorded
The horrors of Nanjing.
Once, late on a winter evening,
She saw an army truck in the street,
Carrying a group of young Chinese girls.
As the truck passed by, the girls called out:
'Jiu ming, jiu ming', 'save our lives, save our lives'.
A Buddhist monk once told me
That rivers and mountains have their own soul.
Nature is alive.
And so, in this terrible time of history,
Those who had listened carefully enough, could hear
The mountains and the rivers of the earth sigh.
And then in the glorious Land of the Rising Sun
The snow-capped peak of sublime Mount Fuji
Hid its head in the clouds, ashamed.
poem by Paul Hartal
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Turning Japanese
Ive got your picture
Of me and you
You wrote, I love you.
I love you, too
I sit there staring when theres nothing else to do
Oh, its in color
Your hair is brown
Your eyes are hazel
And soft as clouds
I often kiss you when theres no one else around
Ive got your picture, got your picture
Id like a million of em over myself
I want a doctor to take your picture
So I can look at you from inside as well
Youve got me turning up, Im turning down, Im turning in, and Im turning round
Im turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
Turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
Turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
Turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
Ive got your picture, Ive got your picture
Id like a million of them over myself
I want a doctor to take your picture
So I can look at you from inside as well
Youve got me turning up, Im turning down, Im turning in, and Im turning round
Im turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
Turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
Turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
Turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
No sex, no drugs, no wine, no women
No fun, no sin, no you, no wonder its dark
Everyone around me is a total stranger
Everyone avoids me like a cyclone ranger
Everyone
Thats why Im turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
Turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
Turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
Turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
Turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
Turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
(think so, think so, think so)
Turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
Turning japanese, I think Im turning japanese, I really think so
(think so, think so, think so...)
song performed by by Liz Phair
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Honor and Betrayal (Jiangsu 1937-1945)
The bamboo leaves swished in the wind
As Lieutenant Ryouta Takahashi said goodbye
To his wife and son.
He made his way to the port
With measured steps,
His mind thick with heavy thoughts.
On route
To reinforce the Japanese garrison in Shanghai
The convoy set sail
From the Sasebo Naval Arsenal
In Nagasaki Prefecture.
It was part of the 3rd expeditionary fleet
Of the Imperial Japanese Navy
Consisting of a dozen cruisers and gunboats.
Their mission was to patrol the coasts
And river ways of China and to give support
to the landing operations of Japanese troops.
The boats ploughed through choppy waters
In the South China Sea for two days
And three nights.
Upon casting anchor in the Yangtze delta,
Lieutenant Ryouta Takahashi reported himself
To the staff of his commanding officer,
Major Daiki Chinen.
Judging by his name,
Takahashi-san told himself,
The major ought to be from Okinawa.
The lieutenant spent
A few relatively calm weeks
In Jiangsu Province.
But then, on August 13,1937,
The Battle of Shanghai began.
The exchange of fire
Escalated into a full-scale war
Between Japan and China.
Imperial Japanese Army units,
Supported by aircrafts and tanks,
Crossed over the Bazi Bridge in Shanghai.
Hirohito’s Third Fleet
Stationed in the Yangtze
And the Huangpu River joined the battle.
They bombarded the Chinese positions
In Shanghai.
It became one of the fiercest battles
Of the war. After three months of fighting,
In the end of October, the Chinese forces
Led by the Nationalist General Chiang Kai-shek
Started to retreat from Shanghai to Nanjing
Engaging the Japanese in combat
Along the road.
Advancing with his platoon,
Takahashi was shocked to see
Piles of corpses of Chinese men, women,
And children lying on the roadsides.
Once, in a stockade yard,
He saw Japanese soldiers
Dashing forward and shouting ‘charge’
In bayonet practice on Chinese civilians.
At another time he saw a sergeant
Amusing himself in tossing grenades
At captured prisoners.
Grinning widely, the sergeant removed
The safety pin of the hand grenade,
Holding in place the lever in a death grip
And then threw the bomb
At the frightened and helpless victims.
It took seven seconds for a grenade
To explode, leaving in its wake
Bleeding men with shredded bodies
And limbless torsos.
And Takahashi also witnessed
Other atrocities. He saw
Imperial Army soldiers
Raping and killing women,
Murdering men and children
And then looting their houses.
In the autumn of 1937,
In the days before Nanjing’s fall,
The invading Japanese troops massacred
About 150,000 Chinese prisoners
Along the Yangtze River.
The commanding officer of the region
Was initially General Iwane Matsui
But he became ill and
Prince Yasuhiko Asaka,
Uncle of Emperor Hirohito replaced him.
The Prince issued a secret order
To kill all captives.
Despite being surrounded
By the horrors of war,
On a rare occasion,
Takahashi-san managed to sit down
With Captain Naoki Hakudo for drinking
A few cups of saké.
They both liked it herb-flavored.
From small choko cups
They gulped with joy the aromatic rice brew
And their spirit rose fast to an elevated level.
And so, it did not take long
Before the beverage
Loosened their tongues.
“You know, Captain”, said Takahashi-san,
“The height of the sky rivals the depth
Of our everlasting shame.”
“And why is that? ” asked Hakudo-san.
“As you know our history and culture
Are rich, but we are indebted forever
To China for her gifts to us;
For her contributions to our identity,
For shaping our way of life,
Our customs and outlook on the world.
Mind you, culturally, Japan absorbed
The Confucian virtues of loyalty,
Trust, righteousness, politeness
And wisdom. And now look
What happens here.
How can we do this to China? ”
Hakudo-san gave an inquisitive look
To his comrade.
“Well, lieutenant”, he said,
“Remember that your duty is to be loyal
To your country. And never forget
That your honor is to die for the Emperor.
Nothing less and nothing more.”
The Sino-Japanese War went on
And expanded into World War II.
Eight years after the Battle of Shanghai,
On August 6,1945,
The American “Enola Gay” B-29 bomber
Dropped an uranium atomic bomb
On Hiroshima.
Three days later another B-29,
The “Bockscar”, raided Nagasaki
And destroyed it with a plutonium bomb.
Soon after the nuclear attacks
Emperor Hirohito
Reluctantly announced the capitulation
Of the Empire of the Rising Sun.
On September 2,1945,
A formal surrender ceremony
Was held in Tokyo Bay
Aboard the battleship USS Missouri.
The Second World War was over.
Takahashi-san survived the war.
However, it took many months
Until he was able to return
To his homeland and to reunite
With his family.
He could hardly recognize his son.
He also found that his wife
Was very different.
Takahashi-san settled down
To civilian life
As a mechanical engineer.
A few weeks after his return
He was sipping green tea
In the rock garden.
It was a peaceful morning
And a glorious sun was rising
Over the snow-capped summit
Of Mount Fiji.
For a while
He looked at the magnificent scene
And then turning to his wife, he said:
“You know, Shiori,
My comrades and I always believed
In the unimpeachable supremacy
Of the Emperor.
We served him with honor.
And we remained loyal
To our country till the bitter end.
Yet we betrayed humanity.”
poem by Paul Hartal
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The Sword
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,
With his family gazing on,
In a uniform smartly fitting,
Stood an officer of Nippon.
At his side swung his sword - katana,
And to war he would soon be gone.
From his people were gifts bestowed:
A small book of prayers to take,
And a camera to record
The conquests their son would make;
So his family's photo he took;
In the book he would keep the keepsake.
The sword of his samurai forebears,
Fitted with ancestral blade,
Temper and balance so perfect,
Forged true - by true craftsman made;
There on its handle so ornate,
Three cherry blossoms were laid.
Sharkskin it inlaid the handle,
Tassel showed officer class,
Perfect the fine crafted pommel,
Shone bright its high polished brass;
Proud was he of this fine weapon;
On to his sons it would pass.
Triumphant in battle it served him
Until the fighting it turned
To defeat for the forces of Nippon;
Here was their might to be spurned:
By another Imperial Army
At Balikpapan, as Borneo burned.
There as the officer bravely
Brandished his sword in the fight,
Gunfire and shell fire around him,
Smoke of war - oil and cordite;
Surged on the valiant diggers,
Hopeless the Japanese plight.
Never surrender - his motto,
There with his comrades he died,
Amongst the corpses - the carnage,
A digger sergeant he spied
A sword in the officer's dead hand,
Its scabbard lay there at his side.
Weary of death was the digger,
Still for some reason he took,
There from the dead man's shirt pocket,
A stained and a tattered small book -
It fell open, and there on the first page
Was the picture the officer took.
The digger he took up the sword,
And he slipped the book into his pack;
His young eyes showed no trace of feeling,
He strode off and didn't look back;
He'd hardened himself to war's horror,
But humanity he didn't lack.
So now when a visitor questions
The history of that old sword,
Says the old man - it's there to remind him
When nations with others are warred,
How soldiers who fight for their country,
May take bloody death as reward.
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,
And a bloodied book, beneath the sword
That tells of a soldier's fall.
In memory of:
QX13210 Sgt A.N. O'Brien,2nd 31st Bne.7th Div AIF
and of an unknown Japanese officer.
poem by Dennis N. O'Brien
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
What a big joke
What a big joke
the new defence force has become,
where three thousand soldiers
strike and run riot
and it’s people
who chooses to be soldiers.
If Jan Smuts ruled
they would have been dead
as he let them
load a gun
for Jopie Fourie
and to me it’s nothing less
than revolt
for which people in the past
could pay the ultimate penalty.
I almost laughed myself apart
when medical troops
where brought to justice
for whoring
and I wondered
what was now happening
at the once great 1 Mil?
What kind of army has no discipline
and in what defence force
troops and junior officers
tell generals
how to do their thing
and the President
is challenged
to take instructions?
In my time you where bound by law
to go without any choice
to the defence force
and if you did not go there,
the military police
quickly came to fetch you
at home.
In my defence force
nonsense was taken out of you
from the start
and the authority of higher ranks was supreme
and we exercised with a pole and tyre
and received
the best training there.
.
For two years we
had to do national service
against a pauper’s pay
and it felt at a time
as if the camps
would never end.
a Soldier pointed his finger
at a lieutenant
and received thirty days
in the detention barracks
for it.
It was a defence force
that showed its fist
to Swapo, Fapla,
the Cubans and Russians
and the best soldiers
knew their duty.
Against what foe
will this new army be able to stand
if there’s no discipline
and like in a asylum people run amok
and I wonder
what omen
is hitting the new South Africa
where patriotism
lies at the backdoor
and every soldier thinks
that he’s a general
and like all things
in this once great country,
this army is more than pathetic
against what it once was.
[Reference: 1 Mil=> One milatary hospital.]
poem by Gert Strydom
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The causes of the China Incident were the exclusion and insult of Japan throughout China, the exclusion of Japanese goods, the persecution of Japanese residents in China, and the illegal violation of Japanese rights.
quote by Hideki Tojo
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Surprise in Japan - A sincere apology
our Japanese teacher
starts her lesson bowing to us
and apologises for the war
I was rather surprised this 30's something Japanese teacher apologised for the role Japanese played in the second world war
in the Asia Pacific. All the students in this Japanese school in Ichikawa Japan were from Asia particularly China, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore. Many Japanese never felt sorry about the ruthlessness they unleashed on their neighbours but there are some who knew of the real situations and are ready to apologise when occasions permits it.
poem by John Tiong Chunghoo
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
On The Civil War On The East Coast Of The United States Of North America 1860-64
Because of the unaccountable spirit of the troops
oh we were marched as we were never marched before
and flanked them off from home. Stupid Meade
was after them, head on to tail, but we convinced
him, finally, to flank, flank, cut off their head.
He finally understood, the idiot, and got a fort
named after him, for wisdom. He probably thought
Lee would conquer Washington from Appomattox
if he, Meade, should march his infantry behind
him, Lee. Ah well, the unaccountable spirit of the troops
triumphed, Meade got his fort, Grant got his presidency,
Sherman got his motto, what was it? War is heck?, Lee got a military school
for the education of young Southern gentlemen, and the Union
Army was taken over by Southern noncommissioned officers
in the wars against the Indians to the west. I know all
about this, I know who won, I served under them
for three hundred and fifty years in World War II,
just long enough not to be called a rookie but a veteran,
and realized the rank and order of my enemies:
first, the West Point officers; second, the red-neck sergeants;
third, the Nazis and perhaps the Japanese. I won
all of these wars as a private soldier, for a while,
and am happy to have done so: without me
Hitler and Hirohito would he ruling the world
instead of America and Russia, but I still will not
drive through Georgia with New York license plates.
poem by Alan Dugan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Japanese naval officers in dress whites are frequent guests at Pearl Harbor's officers' mess and are very polite. They always were. Except, of course, for that little interval there between 1941 and 1945.
quote by William Manchester
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Honor And Courage
In Japan, they write on rice paper,
In America, we write on the sides of buildings.
In Japan they honor their elders,
In America, we rob them on buses,
And abuse them.
In Japan there is great love for their country.
In America, people are refusing to stand,
For the national anthem.
In Japan, men are volunteering to die,
Without a second thought,
To give up their lives,
To save their fellow citizens.
Oh yes, you'll say, the Japanese are great,
At dying, at suicide missions.
But is that the point?
Shouldn't the point be,
The Japanese love their homeland,
The Japanese love their own people,
The Japanese love their way of life,
The Japanese love their traditions,
Love, honor, respect, courage,
Nobody writes on Japanese walls.
Offenders are quickly and severely dealt with.
Wouldn't you volunteer also?
Maybe not.
Honor, and courage,
Seem to be,
In short supply,
Stateside.
3/26/11 Alton Texas
poem by Juan Olivarez
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Mr Bose good you never completed your war
Ah that untraceable in history
This is going to annoy many people
The ones who are searching for his remains
Trying to find out where he was knocked off.
The facts are there for all to see
Just look at those photographs
His jingoist military style
A fascist air about him
German submarines and Nipponese aircraft
Piggybacking on a rotten Japanese army
Whose cruelty even the best could not have overlooked
And a whole people across Asia can never forgive
Gandhi saw through him…
And the rest is history.
poem by Chootez Lao
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Quentin wanted to create this special world in which everybody walks around with a samurai sword, extras in the airport, a special little place in the airplane to stick your samurai sword.
quote by David Carradine
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
We burned to death 100,000 Japanese civilians in Tokyo - men, women and children. LeMay recognized that what he was doing would be thought immoral if his side had lost. But what makes it immoral if you lose and not immoral if you win?
quote by Robert McNamara
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Surprise in Japan - The woman next door
a japanese woman
becomes our friend
then asks to borrow money
our apartment
an old couple before us
took their own lives
We were really surprised by a middle age Japanese woman who came over to borrow money from us, students. Though Japan is an economic power, life is not so rosy as thought to be as the cost of living is extemely high. Most people in Tokyo cannot afford to own their houses. An old couple who lived in our apartment earlier committed suicide because of financial woes.
poem by John Tiong Chunghoo
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Fifty Cents A Day
I am an humble Soldier
far from my friends and home,
mid scenes of war and hardships
I constantly must roam,
with many officers over me,
and them I must obey,
and do just what they tell me,
for fifty cents a day.
I enlisted in the army
to help my country's cause,
because I loved it dearly,
and would sustain its laws,
I felt a free man's duty,
his country to obey,
I came not as a hireling,
for fifty cents a day
I enlisted as a soldier.
a free man and a man
To do a soldiers duty,
as best a soldier can.
hope to fight the rebels,
and hate this long delay.
I came to help my country,
for fifty cents a day.
I now must yield to hardships
in cold in storm and rain
perchance with scanty rations
not even then complain
the right of seeking comfort
long since I signed away
my life I am slowly losing
for fifty cents a day.
who send the soldiers to the field
to buy his willing hand,
with promises so plentiful,
of treatment like a man?
twas those who, in two days,
received a larger pay
than does the soldiers in a month
at fifty cents a day
who promised to the soldier,
his wrongs should be redressed
if tyanny or officers
should his right oppress?
alas! the sword may smight him,
or kicked around he may be,
he finds his only redress,
is fifty cents a day
who promised to the soldiers,
if sickness should appear,
good doctors and kind nurses
was ready and was near,
to aid him in his feebleness
as quick as though his pay
was ten times as much
as fifty cents a day.
twas those who wear the shoulder straps
with haughty air of grace,
who look upon the soldier
below the negro race,
who thinks a soldier's duty
is only to obey
his lordship, and be content
with fifty cents a day.
how oft I've seen the soldier,
near tottering to the ground,
seek vainly for some friendly aid,
when it could ne'er be found,
when told he was not ailing,
to go and take his way,
one week would end his suffering
and fifty cents a day.
now, how many of these officers
would be here where they are,
if forced to live like soldiers,
and take a soldier's fare?
how few would take the treatment
even with their liberal pay,
let alone the poor pittance
of fifty cents a day
cheer up my gallant soldiers,
be cheerful, gay, and smile,
we'll do the fighting now,
and the voting after awhile,
and then we'll show oppressors
that they may fell dismay,
who treated us as serviles,
at fifty cents a day.
This poem was written by my great, great, great, grandfather when he was a POW in the civil war. He wrote this during the month of December 1863. I wanted to share this with everyone in memory of him.
poem by Shauna Stoltz
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Even when a samurai has not eaten, he holds his toothpick high.
A Cut Above The Rest
My great-grandfather was a soldier
and Rebecca was his loving wife.
They were wed in what was then India
and she was accustomed to army life.
They lived in an Indian army bungalow
on the outskirts of the city of Lahore.
Whilst the Major was away on duty
a guard kept their home secure.
One evening as the sun was setting
an open window let in the breeze.
The manservant lit the oil lamps
then retired to the bungalow’s eaves.
As Rebecca sat quietly reading
the sound of a thud came from outside.
From the wall she took her father’s sword
and stood behind the curtain as if to hide.
With the sword raised high and ready
she was in a position to take a swing.
Nervously she stood there waiting
for whatever the night would bring.
From behind the closed curtains
a hand and then an arm poked through
and then with a swipe of the sword
she severed the wrist in two.
A loud scream of pain followed,
as the man left his severed limb behind.
When Rebecca later told the story
she said the burglar left more than he could find.
poem by Orlando Belo
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
If you have only two pennies left in the world, with the first penny, you should buy rice to feed your family. With the second penny, say the wise Japanese, you should buy a lily. The Japanese understand the importance of dreaming...
Burma
My father fought in Burma
At the time of World War Two
He didn’t hate the Japanese
He just hated what they’d do
When they went into a village
That the Japanese had left
They'd find children wrapped upon barbed wire
Bayonet wounds in their chests
He rarely spoke about it
Like others of that time
He left the army as a sergeant
With damage to one eye
But the damage was far deeper
And was not easily discerned
For what lived on inside of him
Was the horror that he’d learned.
poem by David Keig
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Hiroshima
Oh! The mushroom cloud
Oppenhiemer takes solace
In my Bhagwad Gita and
Quotes Lord Krishna
I have become death
The destroyer of Universe
The Emperor when told -
The old wooden palace
Reduced to cinders- Asks
What about my old Elm tree
For a palace can be built in a month
It takes a hundred years for
An Elm to fully grow
We will surrender says the Emperor
Why - asks the Diet
I cannot see the slaughter of -
My people.
Young army hotheads-thinking
Emperor has been ill advised
Ask the General to follow -
The Code of the Japanese Soldier
And overthrow the Emperor and the Diet
Sayeth the General-
You talk of the Code of the Japanese Soldier
The Japanese Soldier has but one code -
'He always obeys his Emperor'.
And commits
Harakiri
poem by Satbir Bakshi
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!