The Battle

Pretty self-explanatory.

"Our enemy has schemed and formed against us

How then shall we reply but thus?

With courage in our hearts and arms in our hands

Dressed in leather and steel and iron bands."

The war machines clink and rattle

As they roll on stoutly to battle

"Raise your eyes to the sky in prayer

Soon it will be that many souls fly there."

Strong men march with faces grim

Each thinking of his home and those waiting for him

"Across the wide plain where the tall grasses grow

Stirs the mailed hand of our perfidious foe."

Columns and lines form, and turn to advance

Partners engaging in the deadliest dance

Cold steel and burning blood

Boots churning the soil into mud

The exchange of missles overhead, arrows small, stones large

A bleak prelude to the inevitable charge

Men fall transfixed or crushed to the ground

The horns blare, that most dreaded, anticipated sound

Battle-cries roar from thousands of throats

Lines clash and combatants swirl like dust motes

Grey metal and bright coats, splashes of scarlet

Brows drenched with sweat, blades wet

Shouts of triumph mingle with cries of agony

Red carnage stretching as far as the eye can see

The shadows grow long, countless lives cut short

The ground now littered with men of every sort

Corpses lay upon the trampled grass covered in blood and grit

While among them the wounded and exhausted sit

"Hoist now in victory the pennants and banners high."

As soldiers sit in silence and cry.

Reviews

[An Ordinary Woman]

ah, a poem close to my heart. War is so tragic. Our brave soldiers out there doing all they can. Elegant, powerful, words. Thank you.