The general has ordered us to charge again,
We must take that hill to win.
I ordered the men back on their feet,
Charge that hill, there will be no retreat.
Many soldiers lie dead by our side,
Into Blue Belly fire nowhere to hide.
This is the third charge up this hill,
We must reach the Blues we have to kill.
Cannon ball, grape shot and musket ball,
Caused many a young boy to wither and fall.
Flags fly, horses cry and bugles blow,
As over the wall into the breach we go.
Rifle butts, bayonets and sabers we face,
Gray die with Blue with no disgrace.
Routed those Blue Belly they’ve run away,
Pickett’s 1st. Virginia has taken the day.
Southern mothers and northern wailed and cried,
As their precious sons fell and died.
Because powerful men wish to own a slave,
In this land of the free and the home of the brave.
Young men with bright clear eyes,
Honor bound shout battle cries.
Has their sacrifice made any sense?
Time will tell it made no difference.
2019 Poetry Marathon Mile 20 Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Mark Toney
2/21/19
the train is moving
white smoke in the air
air is polluted
the red butterfly with
spotted blue belly
dancing in pollution
she is touching my fluttering
heart i am defibrillated
rain is trampling upon
the fallen petals
we are going away
7.36 am
sep 17 2016
the train is moving
we feel false sens-
ations
shades of green
across the parallel
tracks
clogged lymphatic system
abnormal new growth
anarchy
she is
dancing on the fallen
red petals
naked
feet
the red butterfly with
spotted blue belly
singing
she is touching
my fluttering heart
i am
defibrillated
the new rain trampling
upon the fallen
petals
One gnashing of teeth
makes a star fall billions of miles away
A tiny turn in a flower makes angels turn
The flutter of a strange butterfly
Is in my mouth my heart my hands my feet
As the universe
In and around me cry
Large raindrops fall
Busy making the circuit
from Precambrian days
Puddle to pool to river to sea
The humming beauty bivouacing inside me -
Sea to ocean to snorkelling whales,
fun, vapour, cloud and sky
Trysting with the cosmic fall
O, my, my !
Charged and seeded, full of child
Weeping, heavy with labour, wild
fat and veined, in ecstasy
blue belly filled
with water, corn, life, dreams distilled
From tubs of tangerine
In earnestness and sin
The angel and the butterfly
Over my head this evening flew
Lifting up the crimson sky
O, my, my !