Echoes of Battle

The years have marched on, scores untold,

Yet still I hear the cannons' roar.

Those youthful faces, forever etched,

My brothers lost in brutal war.

Jack's bright smile snuffed out too soon,  

A burst of shrapnel stole his life.

And Harold, struck down in no man's land,

Their voices silenced midst the strife.

I see them still in memory's haze,

Huddled 'round the camp's faint glow,

Swapping tales of sweethearts far away,  

Dreaming of home's warm embrace to know.

But dawn would break with horror anew,  

As lead rained down from ashen skies.

Too many brave lads perished there,

While I survived though none know why.

Now evening shadows stretch far,

My weary bones find little rest.

For nightly I rejoin the fallen,  

Dear friends' souls inhabiting my breast.

Till the final roll call sounds its tune,

I'll stand vigil for that valiant band.

Unbowed, undaunted in twilight's gloom,   

One soldier still, forever unmanned.

Reviews

[Chris Shaw]

How hard on the heart it must be to see your comrades fall one by one. Oh the futility of war, yet this was how it has been in our history. Why them and not me, I hear in these lines. A poignant write of the horrors that some have lived through and endured. Your lines well crafted, finely written.

Chris