Paul Nash : 4 Dark landscapes

“The Caterpillar Crater” 1917

South east of Ypres, the Caterpillar Ridge,

blown up by thirty tons of ammatol,

a thousand Germans dead but disappeared,

only a massive crater to mark their passing.

Green fields turned ochre by blood and mud,

every tree a broken trunk, every branch

a stunted limb, like a human body 

torn apart by unceasing heavy guns; 

trunks in serried rows, like crucifixes

souvenirs of an army dissolved away.

“Passchendaele Shell bursting” 1918

A man-tree leans back away from the blast, 

its hand with shattered fingers lifted high

against the blitz of brick and piercing shell

flung arching wide, a macabre fountain

sprung from a deep penetration of the earth,

an unholy union of Füllpuver and steel

The sky blotted out, the land is covered

with dirt and debris, trees wasted and bare,

a dark landscape broken and desolate,

reveal the artist’s unending despair.

“The Wire”  1918

Beneath a sky wide pall of noxious fumes 

stands erect a lonely bridegroom, a tree

castrated, splintered phallus wrapped 

in a deadly mantle woven from thick 

strands of entangled wire, barbs hungry 

for blood, symbols of pain and of despair.

Roots spread dry, like a beached octopus

trapped by broken boulders and foul waters,

the tree is captive to this killing ground,

left god-forsaken in its Stygian gloom. 

“We are Making a New World”  1918

Above the brick red, blood red horizon
the sun rises, enervated and white,

into a sky grey with shame, but its rays

touch the edges of the brightly dark hills

and highlight the forest of wasted trees.

Grass is tinged anew with a nascent light,

from the soft water of a crater pool

field mice drink again, children one day may 

play here, small birds sing again, but for now

nothing but an unresponsive emptiness.

                                                                                                                                                                                                 Naomi


"The Wire" 

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of the Imperial War Museum's Non Commercial Licence]

 Paul Nash  1918