Invasion Poem by Mary Champion

The tyrant tried to calculate
the price of victory,
how he could spin the truth to justify
each grim atrocity.

Deluded in his self-belief,
reality was lost.
He filled his people's minds and ears with lies
and underplayed the cost.

In ignorance they marched ahead
and could not understand
why the people failed to see them as
redeemers of their land.

But fearful of the tyrant's rage,
they would not dare retreat.
Trapped within their perilous position,
his lies fed their conceit.

Regardless of the rules of war -
barbarity unbound -
they slaughtered, tortured, vented their fury
upon the blood-soaked ground.

The tyrant failed to calculate.
There was no victory.
No lie was great enough to justify
this foul atrocity.