{"id":1106,"date":"2011-11-11T17:49:24","date_gmt":"2011-11-11T17:49:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/?p=1106"},"modified":"2014-11-11T17:53:18","modified_gmt":"2014-11-11T17:53:18","slug":"life-to-his-kind-was-a-game-of-chance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/life-to-his-kind-was-a-game-of-chance\/","title":{"rendered":"Life to His Kind Was a Game of Chance &#8211; the story of Tom Reilly, an Irish Soldier of Fortune"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"&quot;Life to His Kind Was a Game of Chance&quot; War poetry about an Irish soldier of fortune.\" width=\"660\" height=\"371\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pZ1DRqo2UNQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_810\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-810\" style=\"width: 683px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-810\" title=\"Tom Reilly, an Irish Soldier of Fortune\" src=\"http:\/\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/tomreilly.jpg\" alt=\"Tom Reilly, an Irish Soldier of Fortune\" width=\"683\" height=\"288\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-810\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tom Reilly, an Irish Soldier of Fortune<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Adventures sake<br \/>\nBrought the young sons of Erin<br \/>\nInto uniform<\/p>\n<p>Thoughts of great glory<br \/>\nAmong shot and shell in hell<br \/>\nOf the battlefield<\/p>\n<p>To return to home<br \/>\nTo kisses of loved ones<br \/>\nAnd relieved mothers<\/p>\n<p>As hero&#8217;s of old<br \/>\nOf whom they heard as children<br \/>\nAt their mothers knee.<\/p>\n<p>It was not to be<br \/>\nSo many fell wounded and dead<br \/>\nThe latter lucky.<\/p>\n<p>A few unscathed bar<br \/>\nA shrapnel wound to the leg<br \/>\nA bootload of blood.<\/p>\n<p>Some found love and lust<br \/>\nIn\u00c2\u00a0 Fr\u00c3\u00a4uleins welcoming arms<br \/>\nSeduced by victors.<\/p>\n<p>To fight yet again<br \/>\nSame side, a new uniform<br \/>\nMaybe faced their own sons.<\/p>\n<p>Their own flesh and blood<br \/>\nUnder enemies high flag<br \/>\nAs Germans were raised.<\/p>\n<p>=========================<\/p>\n<p>Hiding maybe the fact<br \/>\nThat their fathers they were from<br \/>\nThe enemies side<\/p>\n<p>And as proud Aryan<br \/>\nUniform they wore and fought<br \/>\nFor land and for blood.<\/p>\n<p>Germany&#8217;s honour<br \/>\nFaith, Fuhrer and flag, they stood<br \/>\nListened to Hitler<\/p>\n<p>Hiding the fact that<br \/>\nNo German were they but were<br \/>\nHalf one of the Gael<\/p>\n<p>And with weapons they faced<br \/>\nThe fire of the enemy<br \/>\nOne who was father<\/p>\n<p>But father does not<br \/>\nMatter to such men of arms<br \/>\nWho fight for Fuhrer<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes I<br \/>\nI think of those two young boys<br \/>\nRaised by grandparents<\/p>\n<p>In a Rhine banks shop<br \/>\nTheir mother who died in birth<br \/>\nSo the boys could live<\/p>\n<p>To hold guns to fight<br \/>\nAnd to face their own father<br \/>\nOn a field of battle.<\/p>\n<p>Strange&#8230; such it is life<br \/>\nIts twists and its turns weave odd<br \/>\nPatterns in lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Adventures sake Brought the young sons of Erin Into uniform Thoughts of great glory Among shot and shell in hell Of the battlefield To return to home To kisses of loved ones And relieved mothers As hero&#8217;s of old Of whom they heard as children At their mothers knee. It &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[120,23,1251,97,6,213,96],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-rhyming-poems","category-north-longford","category-soldiers-of-fate-and-fortune","category-the-great-war","category-video-poetry","category-war","category-war-poetry","column","twocol"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7EI4f-hQ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1480,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/sleuthing-for-the-german-reillys\/","url_meta":{"origin":1106,"position":0},"title":"Sleuthing for  the German Reillys","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"21st February 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"ne of the tragic and most interesting things to come out of the Great War and the Second World War was the issue of broken families, servicemen from one side who married and\/or had children with womenfolk of the other side. One such man to fall for the Frauliens charms\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blog&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":139,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/telegram-ignored\/","url_meta":{"origin":1106,"position":1},"title":"Telegram  Ignored","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"10th June 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Next of kin - sisters name given: Duty done, family contacted Telegram ignored - the shame, the shame As if kinship itself retracted. But so things were in those times And so he lies in an unknown spot The shame of his uniform now has passed His grave unknown, he's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Family Stories&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Family Stories","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/family-stories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/telegram.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/telegram.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/telegram.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/telegram.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5128,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/remembering-bernard-o-reilly-a-soldier-of-australia-and-old-aughagreagh\/","url_meta":{"origin":1106,"position":2},"title":"Remembering Bernard O&#8217; Reilly, a Soldier of Australia and old Aughagreagh","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"14th November 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Its a long way to Australia from old Aughagreagh, Where his family left from decades before And the ladies he laughed with when he visited that day Shall enjoy his laughter and company no more. In Belgiums flat fields between Holland and France Which Germans had taken in 1914 Hard\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Ireland&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Ireland","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/ireland\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Bernard-J-O-Reillys-of-Australia-and-Aughagreagh.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Bernard-J-O-Reillys-of-Australia-and-Aughagreagh.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Bernard-J-O-Reillys-of-Australia-and-Aughagreagh.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Bernard-J-O-Reillys-of-Australia-and-Aughagreagh.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":43,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/letter-to-an-unknown-soldier\/","url_meta":{"origin":1106,"position":3},"title":"Letter to an Unknown Soldier","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"3rd July 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"We all have a British soldier from WWI in the family. Only now can we recognise them. This is dedicated to them. Part of the \"Letter to an Unknown Soldier\" project. 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Yeats) Two men there died, by forces slain Who were comrades not so long ago Such is Civil War, at Dooney Rock Watched\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Irelands Wars&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Irelands Wars","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/irelands-wars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Anti Treaty IRA forces captured \"The Ballinalee\" armoured car, and it saw action against the Free State Army in future engagements before being burned out when recapture was beyond prevention. 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