Yorktown
Yellow, sere fields
great witness trees spread wide
over the bosom of the earth.
Earthworks, cannons, redoubts surround
plainly marking the battle’s course.
They in the center
We attack, lay siege,
and win our separation.
But in a hundred years,
We are both centered and outisde,
winners, losers, brothers all.
Separation lost and union gained
All high ideals, god-fearing,
ready to die for Union, King, Virginia,
freedom for one and all.
So young and beautiful
to die in bloody heaps
across the countryside.
A war is simpler with a villain,
king against king
empires ?????
Lari Smith
(fall 94)