Very Dull Day

What to write? Just what to say?
Tell the folks what's new today?
Censorship often blocks the way.
To what's in our hearts, the answer's nay.
So, I'll report, "Nothing new-very dull day."

The ruin of cities, the bestial war,
The gaping children, weak and sore,
There's all of this, and even more.
But for lack of things to say,
I'll write, "Nothing new-very dull day."

Would they understand of each man's toil
Of our seething emotions brought to boil;
Of American blood reddening the soil?
Can't really think of what to say,
So, it's, "Nothing new-very dull day."

Could I properly tell of the grime and the dirt;
Of bodies that sag, yet minds alert;
And of my soul, where I am mortally hurt?
There's all of this and more to say,
But it's, "Nothing new-very dull day."

Should I tell of shells that just miss my head;
Of my comrade's shirt now sticky red;
the ghostlike melody of singing lead?
In spite of this, I'll act gay,
And it's, "Nothing new-very dull day."

Should I write of corpses on battle's lawn;
And of the eerie quiet of the stillborn dawn;
And of the rotten stench when the cold is gone?
No! The proper thing to say
Is, "Nothing new-very dull day."

This poem was written by a combat infantryman and published in the Stars and Stripes
 

Albert S. Brown |  Infantrymen |  Dull Day |  Foreword |  Do Something, ...
Anzio |  Southern France |  Colmar |  Germany |  Epilogue