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Salient. Victoria University of Wellington Student's Newspaper. Volume 31, Number 6. April 9, 1968

Onward Christian Soldiers

page 6

Onward Christian Soldiers

What would the world be but for us
With our Christian ideals
And our phosphorus.

The child rushes
To the clearing,
Gazes at the glinting silver
Birds, wondering.

Overcome with awe
He stands transfixed
A tiny plaything
Clenched in his fist.

The forest turns
To a ball of fire. He runs,
he dodges,
He escapes the pyre . . .

Glory be to God,
Bless the human race.
Then a cannon shell from nowhere,
Zaps off his face.

He cannot see.
He Still runs on.
Thro' bush, thro' fire,
Onwards on.

Plunging over a bank
He shatters his knee
He looks up to heaven
But he can't see.

He screams again,
A gurgling raucous sound . . .
With to shape it,
With no teeth to be ground.

He claws at his face,
The searing pain to fan.
Then a part of his jawbone,
Comes away in his hand.

Grovelling onwards
Warm, pink thing
Leaving blood, slime and sinew in the forest
Where the birds now sing.

Two hundred yards away
A spider with delight
Begins to gorge itself
On what was his eye.

But Ha, Ha, my friends be calm, be calm,
With God on our side, and more Napalm
What can overcome us?

Cedric Hunt

Photo: Robert W. Joiner

Photo: Robert W. Joiner