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Michael Pruchnicki
Battlepoem
The price we paid is the blood we shed.
Our bones unmarked by granite stone.
We are alone here and we are dead.
We crossed open fields as our enemy fled.
First platoon entered a free fire zone.
The price we paid is the blood we shed.
Teenage kids at the point of the spearhead,
By our sacrifice that day we let it be known
We are alone here and we are dead.
We fought and died and left a field blood-red.
Our youthful corpses lying in grasses windblown.
The price we paid is the blood we shed.
Paddy fields and rocky hillsides serve instead
Of a deathbed where time and silence may atone.
We are alone here and we are dead.
We ask you, stranger, pause and read
our epitaph. Blest be our battlepoem!
The price we paid is the blood we shed.
We are alone here and we are dead.
Michael Pruchnicki
Chicago, Illinois
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Heartbreaking!
An old soldier.
Thank you mick;
from someone that has been there and still here,
I am going on a re-union from my ship USS Harry E. Hubbard DD748
in Baltimore in April,2008 I am one of few living members from ww11 era
I willl be 84 years old next. great tribute to us oldies.
charles garcia
It brings back memories of my friend who died in France in WWII.
Beautifully constructed flawless vilanelle a plasure to read in theses of free form writing Although the subject matter is sombre
interesting rhyming structure and repetition. imagery is vivid and clear. confident composition. well done lad..
Writing is edged with sword and flame.
keep on, Michael.
i live near chicago too. just thought i'd let you know. but anyway, I love your poem, it has good detail and the structure is different. did you expierence your poem?