For King and country

The glory of war !!!

On the first night he prayed to his God,
cried for his mother,
counted stars in the late December sky
as a hoarfrost coated him white.
Dawn brought fresh hope of discovery,
voices carried on still air lifting his spirits
but nobody came.
As day light faded into another dusk, then night,
he spoke with his dead father,
kissed his wife and children goodbye,
sat as a small boy on his mother's lap, loved, safe,
as she stroked his hair, humming him into eternal sleep.

They found him 2 days later in the crater of a shell,
eyes wide open, frozen.

Reviews

[emptyinkwell]

This gives me Game of Thrones vibes. Whenever they say "Winter is coming" and then tell stories about the long harsh days to come, all I can picture are mortal kings and peasants freezing all the same. In death, we are all equals - cold lifeless shells of our former selves, however glorious.

Hauntingly beautiful imagery!

[Gee]

An extremely tardy thank you :)

[Coyote Poetry]

Real war story end with great sadness. If you read the few books written by soldiers who survived the deadly battles. They teach you. Need home and family to survive the hard nights of war. Most soldiers don't write of the worst days. They try to forget. Powerful words shared my friend. I pray one day, days of war become myth and tale.
Coyote

[Gee]

We can but hope.
Thank you Coyote

[Coyote Poetry]

You are welcome my friend.

[Sneh]

Emotional and terrific same Time.... Reading about kings and their chronicles in history is my one of fav and worth fantasizing... Loved the context and concept !!
Keep sharing :)

[Gee]

Thank you..

[Jon Roggie]

One of those which make you think.
Most have stories they have heard.
Ones they did not live.
If they listen,
they realize one thing.
Those who fought,
are never the same.

[Gee]

Good morning Jon, thank you

[Lyn Anderson]

so moving. And then there is the "nationalist" American president, refusing to brave the rain to honour the soldiers on this 100th anniversary of armistice day. May we survive without another war.

[Jon Roggie]

Not one of our country's proudest moments.

[Gee]

Hopefully he'll be gone in 2 years time.
Thank you Lyn

[Beccy]

The remembrance service at our church today today was at once both somber and uplifting and really brought home the sacrifice made by those who fought and died for our future.

There is a pointlessness to war that beggars belief, and yet still our species seems intent on the finality of self destruction.

Beccy.

[Gee]

Thank you Beccy, hope you are both well

[Neville]

Although I could see something like that coming, it nevertheless, stung like hell.. An emotionally charged write, perfectly penned and posted my friend... Hi to you and the missus on this most special of Sundays.. Neville

[Gee]

Thank you Neville, was the daughters 18th yesterday so missed this. Thank you

[Neville]

No problem my friend.. I imagine everyone had a great time.. a milestone innit, for all concerned...

[Samuel Dickens]

The horrors of war. What kind of fool would want to start one? Many are eager to, apparently. Your poem paints a grim portrait of mankind's ultimate failure.

[Gee]

Thank you for commenting Sam

[SleeplessVolcano]

This reminded me of Wifred Owen, arguably the most vocal of poetic critics, when it comes to the evils of war. Just last week it was a 100 years ago that he died.

Death is so final, yet we rush towards it, loving, seemingly, extinction. When will be learn? Maybe, just like your character, "eyes wide open", we know the truth, we the see the truth, we hate the truth, but we keep on not wanting to hear it.

Powerful poetry.

[Gee]

Thank you kindly sir.

[Davidgeo]

I take this as the hallucinations of an about to be dead man. It has the feel of an old school kind of tragedy to it... ww1 or ww2 style. Very well composed... kinda like Arthur Rimbaud's "sleeper in the valley".

You should use the single word "hoarfrost" instead of "hoare frost". Hoare means something very different on it's own; a nerdy computer logic kinda thing.

[Gee]

Change made, thank you David.
My child's 18th today, have drummed into her the importance of her birth date since she was a tiny tot.
Hope all is well with you.