War Poems in German & Italian P.O.W. camps.
Sergeant Lynn Sarrell Ongley



Mind Over Matter
L.S. Ongley
3 March 1945

He placed a plate upon the table
Just in front of where I sat
Boiled potatoes, pork and onions
With a great big chunk of roasted fat.
The steam rose up, I could but simper
Streams of gravy, brown and hot
Lay there piping with the onions
Still I sat a drunken sot.
Heaps of bread strewn on a napkin
Inch thick slices, white and fresh
Mounds of butter, lay there gloating
Underneath the oval mesh.
Then the vision slipped and wavered
Up and past, the screen slid by
Now my eyes could see those turnips
All that passed was just a lie.


Stalag 357.
Fallingbostel. Hanover. Germany.