The Soldiers of Black

The soldiers of black
tramp numb, weak and weary
Their burning red eyes
stare vacant and teary

The landscape all shrouded
by dense smoke mixed with mist
One warrior glares skyward
shaking his filthy, clenched fist

The sound of their march
A sickening crunch
Crackling piles of dry brittle bones
Snap beneath worn ragged boots
Accented sporadic by distant groans

A rancid stench hangs
Heavy in the air
Rotting corpses thick with flies
Still clad in gory uniforms
Maggots squirm from empty eyes

With dusk approaching
It's time to set camp
The tedious trek, taken its toll
Soldiers collapse to blood soaked ground
Bone-tired and cold, worn to the soul

But nightfall brings with
Its own time of dread---

The men exhausted
but fighting the sleep
In the chill of the darkness
The nightmares keep

Though each man is different
the dreams weave common thread
The flash of explosives
The screams of the dead

The visions of war
dance about in each head
Flesh melting from bone
As comrades sink into red

And somewhere still across the land
A mutant newborn cries
And by his anguished mothers hand
The wretched infant dies

And in the shattered silence
Her echoed screaming looms
And somewhere still across the land
A single flower blooms