Poem of 4th Res Bn, Yorkshire Regiment

[Chris T]

I thought people might be interested to read a poem that was a possession of my Great Grandfather and Green Howard, Pte Sidney Stevens. It was sent to him by the author, Pte Langley, with whom he served and I recently received it from my Grandmother.

Various soldiers are mentioned in it, I'd obviously be interested to know if anyone recognises the names. As you will see, it is written on 4th Res Bn, Yorkshire Regiment notepaper. I believe it to have been written at Christmas 1916 as this Bn was formed around September of that year.

The original and my (attempted) transcription can be found here http://www.ww1-yorkshires.org.uk/html-files/photos-groups.htm#poem on Edward Nicholl's excellent WW1 Yorkshires site. Any handwriting experts might decipher one or two words that I struggled with.

Whilst it describes a happy event, It is a very sad poem in many ways because of the context and I think the recognition of "the boys in the trenches" at the end tells what loomed large over everyone.

[sotonmate]

CT

Maybe,on the last line of the fourth verse,"Then Kirby got up........?

Reminds me of my own attempts at poetry,though I shall not place a sample here !

Sotonmate