Shield Wall

Standing behind this shield wall,
On the battle ground.
Dusty and worn, wounded,
I wonder as I hold strong,
Next to my kinsman,
Will we win this battle?
Will I survive, using axe and muscle?
Slaughtering, killing, slowly advancing,
Taking my enemies' lives,
Is this worth the price of so many?
Is this honoring Odin?
One battleworn man, amongst many,
In this shieldwall, feeling
Time, heavy in the air, and mind wandering,
He considers the battles fought,
The rewards gained,
The kinsmen lost.................

Nov 16, 2010

Reviews

[emmajoy]

Literally a strike of the past, yet somehow relevant to now, certainly a lesson lost. I love your use of words here .. they bring reality to repeated history.

'Time, heavy in the air, and mind wandering,
He considers the battles fought,
The rewards gained,
The kinsmen lost ..'

very finely formed words, Judy ..

[Richielee]

oh yes Judy, pictured it well, loving reading your work today!

[Chloe..Across the Unive..]

Wonderful poem of the horrors of war.
Sad to see the waring still goes on and on-
This one reminds me of the Civil War as you use kinsmen -
then again we are all kinsmen in this Universe.
Good strong poem, Judy.

Chloe

[FJ Davis]

An early, emerging pacifist? Did he survive that day?
The poet raises more important issues--issues, I fear, not to be resolved without divine intervention; intervention that must change man's nature. The sad and simple fact is, we are a race of killers.
"Shield Wall" is timeless and decidedly thought-provoking.