We Came Upon a Clearing

We came upon a clearing as we all started to choke Our eyes hurting, painful, us soldier serving blokes Pieces of black floated, sporadic burning embers passed Hazed buildings we could see through the trees, chimneys a fast A stench captured our senses, nothing like this war has before As we progressed through this something, my heart skips to sore Beyond the barbed wire fences, deadening cries filter all around And then I see skeletal beings, it's they who make those sounds Emaciated to thin, I've killed men before my eyes Women, men, and children so young, it's like watching the walking die Through the gates we go, human carcasses piled so high The hardened in us tremble, and many of us start to cry The strong that we meet, hold our hands and welcome us so Leading us into some buildings, we entered, they wouldn't go On entering we now understand, their unwillingness to follow we It beggars belief, mans inhumanity to man, that allows this kin to grieve Furnaces still roaring, burning bodies consumed by their heat Do I image they were alive or dead to meet this ghastly greet We enter another building, witnessing piles of shoes and suitcases I've seen many a sight in this war, but never a sight such as this The strength of me now exhausted, in wretch I'm sickened to disgust It's plain and clear, so evident that I've witnessed murdering lust To the air I wanting go, for their memory I'll never forget And for the rumours that these places existed, for some will they regret http://www.thehighlanderspoems.com/war-8.php