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Open Poetry #32
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Kevo
Member
since 2004-06-02
Posts 466
Navarro County, Texas, USA

0 posted 2004-06-06 09:38 PM


For Old Virginia!
Inspired by a recurring dream.

Billowing smoke suppresses the truth around me.  
I know where I am.  
I am afield in this brutal confine called Hell.  
Alone with my ethereal thoughts.  

I must have expired there,
bathed in the blood of my brethren,
on that field strewn with blues and grays
awash in a crimson tide.  

As the smoke releases its stranglehold upon me
I find that I am not with the slaughtered.  

A man I once knew as brother,
summarily collapses into a lifeless heap
of grays, golds, and reds.  
His bleeding coat conceals my cries.  

I am overwhelmed by the fragile balance
of grief and elation as I realize my fortune.  
I have survived the harrowing advance
of the colorless souls that, at last observance
charged with such ferocity that I nearly quelled my fear
with surrender rather than the report of my musket.  

As I lumbered again onto my weary feet,
I lifted my gaze to the battered field
so poignantly stretched out before my grievous eyes.  

The sacrificial screams of free men,
etched into memory,
shall haunt the rest of my lamenting days.  
Perhaps death would have befriended me.  

Without provocation, I remember with great clarity
the moments before my shameful loss of consciousness.

'Twas' without reserve they charged so gallantly.  
Not once, not twice, but thrice
for “Old Virginia,” I think it was.  
Yes, I heard the cry
as clearly as I heard
the report of their unruly cannons.  

I admired their valor beyond measure
as I witnessed their impassioned resolve.  
I’d almost wished I could share in their Glory
...almost.  

Copyright, Kevin V. Reese, 2004


© Copyright 2004 Kevin Reese - All Rights Reserved
passing shadows
Member Empyrean
since 1999-08-26
Posts 45577
displaced
1 posted 2004-06-06 09:57 PM


you should write a novel
Sadelite
Member Elite
since 2003-10-11
Posts 2519

2 posted 2004-06-07 09:28 PM


Ke o,
   I believe you were there.  This is so real... You write skillfully and with feeling.  

Corinne
Member Ascendant
since 1999-10-28
Posts 5167
state of confusion
3 posted 2004-06-07 09:37 PM


Nice write, Kevo.

Good use of language, good flow as well!

Corinne

iliana
Member Patricius
since 2003-12-05
Posts 13434
USA
4 posted 2004-06-08 02:24 AM


I am in concordance with my sis, Sadelite.  The only thing I don't understand is, why haven't you been here at PIP before!  Your writing is eloquent.   ....jo
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