War Terrible War

By Keya Gupta

War-terrible war

Tomorrow, Oh tomorrow is the day

When we must charge

The day that will memories outlast

Though lived by few, and mourned when past.

As we approach the dawn,

My sleep vanishes, I lay awake.

Then rings the horn — I realize my place,

I ready myself to brave the horrors ahead

We march together, hand in hand,

Bravest souls in a unfamiliar land.

A hurricane approaches, tossing us tither,

Round and round obeying its cruel whisper

Then crashes a wave, so ruthless, so fast,

The clear stream turned white till the very last.

Silence descends, the storm is done,

Dragged from the flood, we stand beneath the sun.

Together we lie on the land

Survivors plucked by giant hands.

But joy gives way to a hollow dread —

For one of us is truly dead.

A soldier lost, never to return,

While his partner alone is left to yearn

Oh! cruel washing machine, that tears them apart —

One sock remains, the other... a broken heart

By Keya Gupta