Hey fellow puffers. I have a poem that I wrote several years ago back in college. I was trying my hand at the "ode", a semi-complex rhyme scheme (AB-AB-CDE-CDE). Anyway, the subject was the Civil War. So, in honor of Memorial Day...
Code:
ODE TO A BATTLE LOST IN TIME</p>
<p>Yon hill ahead, deserted of its fame,<br />
Holds memories of heaven and of hell.<br />
For it was here two thousand soldiers came,<br />
And here only a few would live to tell.<br />
With bayonets and smoke, and gunfire blazed,<br />
And men's lives lost whose life had just begun,<br />
The blood that spilled and filled o're crimson pools,<br />
Along the ruined land that they had razed.<br />
The acts occured that day can't be undone,<br />
Nor make, again, of stones and bones,grand jewels.</p>
<p>The smoking guns, the choking of the throats,<br />
The cavalry, a-stand from row to row,<br />
And firing in the midst of dark blue coats,<br />
Start felling brothers down, injustice show.<br />
Among the haze of battle left and right,<br />
Great screams are heard from friends and comrades near.<br />
What horror must be eating them inside?<br />
What ghastly manner urging them to fight?<br />
What strength had them to manage 'gainst their fear?<br />
No answer can there be except for pride.</p>
<p>A country split asunder, halved in two.<br />
Their pride allowing them to lose control.<br />
A bitter choice, but no-one really knew<br />
The conflict would end in so great a toll.<br />
But hist'ry has a way of echoing,<br />
A way of duplicating past events.<br />
I hope that we, the lesson learned, entomb,<br />
Our brothers, those who fought and died that spring.<br />
And giving thought, I feel we've come far, since<br />
On that hill, now, a garden grows full bloom.</p>
<p>A R Swartz<br />