Red Sunrise

Location

22025
United States
38° 35' 41.0316" N, 77° 20' 17.4696" W

The sun rose red above the trees
As light spread across the field
Cropping up across the land
The shadows reluctant to yeild
A man stands guard surveying,
Watching out for morning's light,
And to guard against invaders
Through the long and trech'rous night
His bugle's an unwelcome trill
All across the sprawling camp
Hardened men who were asleep in bed
Now awake to the cold and damp.
Grunts one and all, expendable men
Prepare their final meals
While a man in a suit, a politician,
A devil among them, making deals.
A shady few listen to him,
And to what he has to say,
While the rest of the men stay united
Ignore his tricks and darker way.
The red sun glints off all their guns
As they mill around and wait
For the shining beast that will take them far
To the land beyond the gates.
A brother among them,
I sit and I watch, as they power by down the road
The men inside laden with packs,
Some struggle under their load.
Our faces grim, expressions bleak,
We're all prepared to die
We've won and lost, many battles we've fought
But none remember why.
Grunts one and all, expendable men,
Brothers united from the beginning
A final battle, they promised us,
But one we had no hope of winning.
Way up in front, our commander calls
For the convoy to come to an end,
We off-load ourselves, and blink in the light,
A look out warning of danger, ahead, around the bend
Blades in palms, guns at our hips, we all lean forward and pray
That we're all still together come night,
That we all live to see the next day.
It's a moment before we can see them
An army huge and vast
So big, it kicks up dust before it,
So dense that first blends into last.
Our leader had tried to take us
To a place where we might have a chance,
But the suddenness of their appearance, the cliff,
Means that soon with death, we'll dance.

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