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Morning Stand-To
Poetry by Lachlan Irvine


MORNING STAND-TO




As a way to start the day, it's not much fun

A gentle nudge, a whispered word - "Stand-To!"

A short nap since your two hours on the gun

Just once you'd like to sleep the whole night through.


Darkness makes the jungle a different place

No shades of green, just deep, menacing black;

The waking eyes alert in every face

Daring Charlie to try a dawn attack.


As the rising sun begins to make its mark

By softening the shadows of the night,

The shapes that seemed so sinister and dark

More innocent now in the spreading light.


The stand-down order has at last come through

"Righto you blokes, whose turn to make a brew?"






Lachlan Irvine

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Vietnam War Poetry