The Lone Pine

[vwalla]

Someone could correct me if I'm wrong but I am pretty sure that the pine in Canberra in my poem (Written in 2005) has had to be replaced for one reason or another.
Val W


THE LONE PINE Written in 2005

This is the story of One of the Two Lone Pine cones , that were brought back home to Australia from Turkey, after the legendary Battle of Plateau 400 or Lone Pine , named after the only solitary tree that stood in this Battle Arena.
Research shows, that two Australian soldiers , Lance Corporal Benjamin Smith of the 3rd Battalion and Sergeant Keith McDowell of the 24th Battalion both brought back cones , which subsequently were nurtured and flourished .The trees are now living Memorials, dedicated to all those who suffered and perished in another senseless battle of WAR!!

Told from the perspective of the Pine Cone
Twas in the Nineteen Hundreds -- Fifteen to be precise. --
My Father stood so proudly on that distant bare plat-eau
Our kinfolk, sacrificed to build, all Johnny Turk’s, crude trenches.
Why he was spared, not even he would know!

Courageously, this lonely Pine, stood to face the charge,
a legend, bearing witness, to the Aussies’ brave attack
With Turkish soldiers- sun in eyes -repelling each onslaught.,
just managing, to force these bold men back.

As day, would surely follow night, conditions fierce and grim.
Surrounded by the wounded, the dying and the dead.
Bodies piled around him, the gore, the stench, the blood.
Painting a weird picture, in macabre, displays of red .

For days the battle ebbed and flowed, beneath machine gun fire -
and even in the trenches, where hand to hand they fought
Until the guns were silenced, nine thousand troops lay dead.
High price to pay for outcomes, which the hierarchy sought

And on that lonely hillside, our Dad he lay destroyed,
another grim statistic of the tragedy of War
Two Aussie Soldiers rescued me , as well my elder brother.
Surviving orphans, of the tree, who’d lived his life before.

It seems Lance Corporal Benjie Smith, whose brother died in Battle,
then sent me home, (a souvenir,) to his Mum at Inverell
And Sergeant Keith McDowell of the 24th Battalion.,
My brother in his haversack .What stories he would tell !

Now Mother Smith, for thirteen years, forgot me , it is said .
Much later on I flourished and fathered two strong seeds
My first son did not travel far. He stayed where he was bred.
A country boy with country roots, just what this nation needs

My second son, a grand career, began with *Royalty.
Now standing tall, to represent - those at the Lone Pine Ridge
At Twenty feet he towers o’er , memorial graves at Canberra.
To honour those who gave their all. A thought provoking bridge

Families gathering every year, pay homage to ancestors ,
who sacrificed their loved ones, in those Pine lined Turkish trenches
At every ANZAC Service, respect is duly given ,
to the Diggers and my family ,

“THE PINUS HALEPENSIS”


* Planted by The Duke of Gloucester at the Australian War Memorial 1934

[Catherine Lee]

I can't comment on the pine Val but I really enjoyed the poem. Writing from the point of view of the tree was a wonderful idea and it comes across really well.

[Maureen K Clifford]

You fell in Manny has reshuffled the page around - you might want to get this shifted to Poetry and lo and behold somone has shifted it for you. We've got good gremlins on this site

[Maureen K Clifford]

Terrific write Val - well done. Found this if it is of any help - https://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/lone/

[vwalla]

Thanks Catherine and Maureen and thanks also for the literature. Interesting isn't it?
Val W