PRISONERS OF WAITING
Copyright © Geoff Allnutt (The Speech Painter) 1999

 

I remember the smell of burning fuel and little else
they came out of nowhere shot us to pieces
plane in a tailspin the wings in shreds
fuselage shattered a stabbing in my leg
I hit the escape hatch prayed to the parachute
pulled the rip chord freed from the free fall
landed in a field of flaming corn
surrounded in seconds by farmers with pitchforks
the explosion roared as the plane went down
the freedom of falling escaping the burning
I felt so lucky to be living at all

Out of the war only six months in
captured fighter a shot down failure
Sent to a camp to sit still and wait
a no mans land of razor wire and gun towers
cowards not heroes deserve such a fate
I remember the boredom the slow crushing boredom
weeks on end with little to do
planning escape my only salvation
beating the system a way to get through

I would have tried anything to rejoin my country
just short of suicide to get away from the fence
four years of wartime only one battle
with only weapons of cunning to stage an offence
got out the first time through tunnelling
six months in the making
stayed at large for nearly a week
hundreds of Germans scouring the countryside
hunting the eight if us who dared to break free
got as far a calais before I was captured
almost in sight of a fast retreating sea

I remember the train back to the stalag
the hatred the spitting looks of contempt
at first i felt joy at the peace in the cooler
but silence was a bastard as Christmas went
back inside the compound more and more men
the mood at times full of apprehension
the numbers a barometer of advance and defeat
with every new arrival adding to the tension
letters from home filled with Londons destruction
for prisoners of waiting the war rages on
I felt impotent but was ready for action
as yet another barracks fell under construction
yet another opportunity to steal some tools
nails chisels wood and electric cable
the shaft to the tunnel was built pretty good
but the tunnel itself was weak and unstable
I remember the collapse the weight of the earth
crushing my body clogging my breath
the relief as they pulled me up to the surface
throwing up dirt scented with death

 

I remember the fear the barbed wire psychosis
growing within me from that moment on
snaring my mind and twisting my thoughts
two mind numbing years of just holding on
I remember the feeling of nothing in my stomach
the taste of food with no taste at all
the cold cutting winter with only one blanket
and that time was a prison stronger than a wall
I remember the Rolex I bought on tick
that I used to time the guards walk by
I remember the bullet that tunnelled beside me
as I gave that fence one last try
I got shot but they couldn't kill me
the bullet went in and passed right through
two weeks in hospital a lucky escape
I sent the guard an I.O.U

We were marched when the Russians got close
more than twenty miles in a single day
freezing blizzards with sick and injured
we slept by the roadside nowhere to stay
convoys of prisoners all across Europe
from town to town and on again
dangerous roads and hopeless situations
strafed by the guns of our own men
I remember liberation heading to Paris
the things that i saw stay with me still
the fallen cities bombed to pieces
the refugees and the winters chill

I remember feeling lucky how I'd escaped
whilst Europe was butchered battered and raped
other soldiers caught and captured
slaves to those who worked them hard
bodies blistered smashed and tortured
worked to death by those in charge

with nothing but memories now to escape from
I remember all the pain I bore
thankful for the rules of the Geneva convention
home of Rolex the watch I wore