A Screaming Silence Poem by Brian Joseph Dickenson

A screaming silence envelops the land,
Ghostly armies are marching.
Not even the sound of a muffled drum
To mark the soldiers passing.

A desolate landscape, torn and seared,
Blood soaking into the earth.
Ragged banners wave to and fro,
Freedom struggling to birth.

The silence is only in the head.
Only the eyes can hear.
Shattered remains lying there,
Of those that we held so dear.

We answered the call
And flocked to the flag, our duty plain to see,
We stood so proud in our uniforms,
Knowing the enemy would flee.

But the enemy; was just like us.
Answering the same sort of call.
The same old speeches, but in another tongue,
Our leaders did not want to fall.

Urging us onward from afar,
Safe in they’re manmade caves
Exhorting us to kill the foe
We, their foolish braves.

And so we died on the battlefields,
Sundered by shot and shell,
Many would grieve on this day,
Victory? Only history will tell.