The Burnt Bridge by Grimbergen

A winding journey on a bus
Amid the farmland lush and green
Near the Verbrande Brug deposits us
By Willebroek canal serene.

The driver smiles; he's really keen
To recount the history he knows
Burnt back in 1914
When Belgium was in the throes

Of stopping those Teutonic boots
From marching over neutral land
Both language sides were in cahoots
Courageously they made a stand.

Outnumbered (it was not their fault),
They sabotaged the bridge and fled
Alas, their tactics failed to halt
The invasion which came in and spread.

A hundred years on from this date
What a peaceful panorama!
A nearby plaque recounts its fate
Reminder of a wartime drama.

(c) Poet in the woods 2014

Burnt on 10th August 1914