War Horse

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Fear, rippled through the ranks.
Through men's limbs. Into our flanks.
But, steady, courageous, facing battle again.
An awesome silence enveloped them then.
We stamped our hooves. We felt it too.
We spoke as only horses do.
With chinking harness, snort and wicker,
With frightened eyes, and ears a-flicker.
Then "Forward! Forward!" Into battle,
To canon boom and machine gun rattle.
With thundering hooves and shouts and screams
Through blinding smoke to nightmare scenes.
And still we galloped on and on
And still the battle wasn't won.
Through shrapnel, shell holes, rifle fire,
In mindless panic to barbed wire.
Now riderless, I mustered strength
And stretched my jump to its full length
To clear the wire of no-man's lands
And reach the woods in enemy hands.
Stricken with terror, I blundered on
Till the noise of the shelling was long gone.
Past ruined homes and fields of mud.
Past trenches with the stench of blood.
Now alone, I reach a river
And halt beside it, all a-shiver.
I drink its coolness, shake my mane.
Will anything ever be the same?
Where are the bundles of fresh sweet hay?
Where is the straw where I once lay?
Where is the farm where I lived and grew?
Where are the people I loved and knew?

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