The Battle

• Zachary Seymour, Grade 8, Figtree High School
• Poetry
• 2015

Excellence Award in the 'Beyond Words 2015' competition

The swords sang a sad song as they sliced through flesh
And a river of blood and sweat ran thick across the battleground
The smoke choked us with its cold black hands
And the dead piled up into a huge rotting mound
Arrows flew, swords slew, and axes sliced through
As the rabid rats ran rampant over the rotting corpses
The fire was like a hungry beast, eating anything in its path
Nothing escaped its burning jaws, not even the enemy forces
His eyes were as black as darkness itself, as he impaled the man
Just another blank faced soldier, trying to survive
The sun was like a furnace, blasting them with heat
Every man on that field, just waiting for death to arrive
The sky roared with thunder, as rain put out the dying embers
The steam was an angel, chasing away the stench of death
The wounded wound their way westward, back to their homes
Whilst so many still lay there silently, having drawn their very last breath