In August of 1914, during WWI, Germany invaded Belgium. According to witness accounts published by the British government in the Bryce Report* of 1915, German soldiers used townspeople as shields in fighting those resisting the invasion. American realist artist, George Wesley Bellows (featured recently with my poem, harbour seal dream), based a series of paintings on scenes from the report. My poem here responds to the painting, not the historical record.
human shields
What they are told:
Strip your clothes
raise your arms
expose your all
they’ll not shoot
a body bared
Then stretch
your natal armour
to the heavens
your god
as if in praise
in thrall
For at the sight
of your surrender
they’ll not dare
be the ones who
let blood fall
But if
aiming at us
they do
bring down
even one
and your
bright-lit flesh
is pierced
remember
remember the call:
Whose mind is cold
whose the true
crime of war
whose the glory
the world will know
And who the weak
who good
who the strong
who evil
who the accursed
who the risen
the world will know
and see
While you
and we
may die
the cause
the victory
is together ours
in righteousness
the trial
the penance
endless perdition
theirs
So with your women
children too
just as the day
they were born
stand before
and unto us
in praise
in thrall
In your brave
soft delivery
our fire
our steel
shadow
protect
And see
the enemy
vanquished
once and
for all time
*Viscount James Bryce (1838-1922), historian and former Ambassador to the US, was responsible for producing the "Report of the Committee on Alleged German Outrages," aka the Bryce Report, an attempt to verify widespread reports of atrocities perpetrated against civilians in occupied Belgium during 1914. As a propaganda tool, the report had a huge impact on public opinion in Allied and neutral countries, particularly in the United States.
“Soft delivery… steel shadow…” your poems resound.
That’s really odd. I am in Belgium and dreamt of war last night. It woke me out of the dream. Not this horror but another. Great poem 💚