Bill’s Battle
Beneath the fierce glare
of a North African sun/
Bill’s orders at last/
no more frying/
eggs on the tanks/
getting into trouble
in the ochre dust//
stories linger in the air/
Sidi Rezegh//
The desert now thunders/
as steel beasts clash/
Operation Crusader/
a clash of chaos/
where courage and fear/
intertwine in the air//
Bill Lawson/
Bronc to his pals/
mans the artillery guns/
on this mighty day/
brotherhood forged/
in the chaos of war/
dreams thrown like dice/
on destiny's floor//
In the silence of the night/
echoes of valour take flight/
Sidi Rezegh holds its breath/
a lament sung for the captured and dead//
This is the third of a cycle of poems about my grandad-in-law. He was captured at this his first battle in Libya in 1941.
