Poem: Only One Tree

The stars shone so bright that last of June night,
In our trenches we crowded like cattle;
But sleep wouldn't come as I lay with my gun,
For tomorrow we face our first battle.

As the morning sun danced o'er the green fields of France,
The captain said, "Boys, no more sermons;
The talking must stop, now it's over the top,
We must take this land from the Germans."

Only one tree, that's all we could see,
Only one shelter from danger;
Only one tree, that's all we could see,
As we faced down the guns of the stranger.

The craters they grew as the mortar shells flew,
The ground like the back of the camel;
With orders in hand, we crossed no man's land,
Near the town that they called Beaumont-Hamel.

We came under fire as we cut the barbed wire,
My comrades are falling by dozens;
These corpses I see are not strangers to me,
But uncles and brothers and cousins.

Only one tree, that's all we could see,
Only one shelter from danger;
Only one tree, that's all we could see,
As we faced down the guns of the stranger.

There's pain in my back, and the sky's turning black,
Though the Angelus bell's not yet ringing;
My hand is all red where I just touched my head,
And somewhere a choir's softly singing.

As I lie in the mud, the memories flood,
And that old danger tree's silhouetted;
In its shade I'll not rest, though I gave it my best,
For Newfoundland, lest you forget it.

Only one tree, that's all we could see,
Only one shelter from danger;
Only one tree, that's all we could see,
As we faced down the guns of the stranger.
Only one tree, that's all we could see,
As we faced down the guns... of the stranger.