Crimson Tide

• Joshua Chin, Grade 7, St Andrew's Cathedral School -
• Poetry
• 2020

Excellence Award in the 'The Inside Story 2020' competition

Under the cover of Night’s dark draped curtain,
Hundreds rode off into the misty uncertain
With spirits held high, profile kept low,
Their boats raking the water like an ancient blunt hoe.

The boys, with their rifles ready, heeded to the commander’s voice.
Their hearts in their throats, they took a valiant choice.
Ascending the mountain with mustered courage,
They were riddled with bullets until they couldn't manage.

Fear’s clammy hands were gripping tenaciously at their neck.
Guns slipping away from fading souls as shots wrecked.
The taste of death nestled between each jaw.
No catastrophe could compare to the calamity they saw.

The golden gong was setting now,
The crimson tide washed the beach now,
We will remember,
Of how they fought for freedom.