The Cave

A single bullet was all it took

And I needn’t have wasted that,

He sat alone in that dismal cave

In an old Field Marshall’s hat,

His eyes were sunk in that pallid face

A demented cast to his jaw,

He didn’t move as I knelt and aimed

And put an end to the war.

 

It was getting late, it was ‘68

When I ventured into the cave,

My friends said going spelunking was

A bit like digging your grave.

‘Expect big rats, and giant bats,’

They said, before I’d begun,

So I added that to my haversack,

Just to be sure, a gun.

 

It wasn’t a normal cave I sought

But one by the autobahn,

Where I’d seen a crevice opening up

That nobody else had done,

It seemed to lead deep down in the earth

Could easily close, if found,

So I took a pick, a dynamite stick

And burrowed into the ground.

 

I had a lamp on my helmet, like

A miner’s, casting a beam,

And climbed on plenty of rubble

That had collapsed in a steady seam,

It led to a concrete tunnel

Plenty of rock strewn passageways,

A giant work of construction that

Lay hidden in former days.

 

I seemed to go on forever

Then ran into a barbed wire cone,

Blocking one of the passageways

And a sign, ‘Halt! No Go Zone!’

The wire was rusty and fell apart

As I pushed it away to the side,

But then the sound of scuffling rats

Brought the gun out by my side.

 

Then finally it had opened up

Into what would appear a cave,

With flags and banners arranged about,

The glory of former days,

A corpse sat propped in an easy chair

In a uniform from then,

And there, attached to the shirt front was

A nameplate, ‘Bormann, M.’

 

Beyond, and under the banners was

A barely human form,

Who stared at me in the darkness there

As if I’d not been born,

The greatest conqueror of our time

And there’s no disputing that,

Lost in pain in his vast domain

For there der Führer sat.

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[ANTO]

Did 'spelunking' inspire this one David. I can just see your face lighting up when that word crossed your mind.
They were always together those two and never positively identified were they?
Your words created such a wonderfully rich scene.
Another classic DLP. I can see this being illustrated in a comic I read as a boy - what was it called, The Victor i think. I would have been as happy to have found this then, as I am now.

[TPK Stories]

Well written and full of rich history...great poem/prose David.

[MomzillaNC]

Ooooo! That’s some ending! Bormann and Hitler! Well penned!

[Avinash]

An alternate history told in quite convincing way. I was not sure what was coming until the last line. That is what I like most about your writing.

[R Smith]

well that's how Hitler met his end, glad you cleared that up and much credit to you for that, all in all a great poem David and who knows if he is still around (well maybe not now) but did he die as they say, i like your answer to that, brilliant :)

[Endless Flight]

An excellent poem. Descriptive, funny and quite unique.

[alf]

Hi David. Well, something had to happen to him and I have to say, I like your theory. just one question, in the stanza beginning . . .I had a lamp . . . 4th line. Is 'seam' intended here? Just checking. Anyway, another winner! alf

[andrew mitchell]

Very funny David How you come up with stories that flow in R and M so perfectly to tell a story is amazing lol

[Marie]

I can't believe no one has commented on this. It's an awe-inspiring poem. The last sentence gave me gose bumps. I could see this cave room so plainly, with its flags and banners..and the corpse...