November 11 - Armistice Day
An Alexandrine and a Mantinada
In a friendly fire field, they fell, failing to fly
Finitude of fodder, familiar foemen
To die or not to be, to be or not to die
Was it another deterministic omen
They ran, stopped, aimed, missed, maimed, killed, tumbled down and up
Trying to remember if life was a given
Whether they will have the time to break up the cup
Of tin — it was not made of steel — being driven
If at least it had been the last war of brothers
With their fathers and an abundance of strangers
Mothers and childhoods left behind as all others
Benchmarking some subjective risks and real dangers
Corresponding conflicts continued and followed
The earth, the sea and the air most of them swallowed
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A panoply of poppies appeared throughout the years after.
From red, a few anthi* flowered in blue and white hereafter.
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* flowers, in Greek
About the Creator
Patrick M. Ohana
A medical writer who reads and writes fiction and some nonfiction, although the latter may appear at times like the former. Most of my pieces (over 2,200) are or will be available on Shakespeare's Shoes.
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