Jake O'Connor-Janitsch's visit to Lochnagar Crater inspired him to write a poem on remembrance
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Jake O’Connor-Janitsch (BA History, 2016)
As part of the ‘Life in the Trenches’ special subject annual field trip, a group of students visited Lochnagar Crater at Ovillers-la-Boisselle, and several other sites associated with the Battle of the Somme, on 31st March 2016. The poem below was written by Jake on the day on the visit.
Visiting Lochnage
All is well
In these ruins of hell
Where soldiers once died upon a time
Left but a crater - that exploded mine
Mud flung around, a deafening sound
Reverberating through history
Remembered this centenary
By students with their detached gaze
Mere voyeurs amongst a mass grave
They can never know
They can never tell
But all is well
In these ruins of hell.
