Horses In War Poem by Nadia Daniel

Charging towards the front line
Weight of rider on my back
Pass those bloodied corpses
The scent of breath they lack

Strange thin wire tearing my flesh
My breast, my belly, my legs, my blood
spilling out so salty- stumble, run again
hooves kicking up the hardened mud

Falling, falling, down, deep down
Falling to the death, the dark underground
Falling, flightless, without a sound
Falling so hard, deep down, deep down

And then silence elapses across the field
Victors stagger to prepare for the next stage
while the losers lay in pools of cooling red
and horses mill till we're led back

Like sheep we follow, mindless
Like sheep, minds blank, trotting
Like nothings wrong, like dumb sheep
While our comrades lay, bodies rotting

And-
Then-

Charging forwards, through milling shouts
ignoring the noise, the killing obsidian stones
pounding, air sharp against my speed
beneath my iron shoes is flesh and bones
Flesh and bones

Then we are there, thrusting, strutting, proud
Weaving death like Fate's loom
One snip with the sword of life- of death
Because the abyss is coming soon

Our riders, us, killing as is right and just
Dying in our numbers, wallowing in grief and pity
Until the night comes, to swallow the thoughts
And the moonlit star blinks- free

It will finish when enough have died
When they subside, when they subside
So we hope for the day when we can ride
unrestrained, on the prospering field's side

Soon enough,
when enough have died
and they subside. Subside.