July 4th 1901

Long ago
We braved winds of sulfur
Where the skies chimed death
Arching and blossoming with flame

Many lads stormed
For the arms of their finest hour
Meeting only, a hail of thundering misery
Crackling, at the edge of fiery and murderous unison

“Ready!”
“Present!”
“Fire!”
These finals words greet legions of young
They pummel the earth, spitting and groaning
Smoldering, at each harrowing and tearing volley

Droves about face and flee
As a second volley whips from behind
Many more dive into eternity
Butchered and scathed beneath the billowing horror

A foul stench
Is courted by the wind
While fortunate souls limp for safety
Disheveled ranks weave themselves whole again
And stride once more, for the quaking inferno

Fifes lark innocently
Urging the wall of blue forward
As the slaughter lashes among us
While cannons mask the drummers kit
Hurling dirt and shards into the grander haze of day

The dismembered screech through the nights
Pitifully wailing for the grace of death
Those shrill cries, spill into shrieks of delight
Far from the hellfire past
At the helm of a shimmering century anew

And still these fires
Arch and bloom
As the hearts of many flutter with elation
And the hearts our own,
Flutter in reminiscent dismay

I wrote this for a poetry/short story contest. Its from the perspective of a civil war veteran at the turn of the century. As he takes in a fireworks display, he cannot help but wince behind each burst. His mind is taken back to the fields of battle where many of his close friends died and where strangers perished by his own hands.