I Can Only Imagine
I Can Only Imagine
As this battle field lies silent
it still resounds a remnant of war
between men and their beliefs
Buried here in Civil War history
are stories I can only imagine
I can only imagine:
The whispering breath of death
whistling across an open meadow
where colors of Blue and Gray,
for a season,
divided a great nation.
I can only imagine:
The hate and violence
that rained down on this vally
once quilted with vibrant colors and life
transforming it to a corpse filled river of blood.
I can only imagine:
The sound of bullets buzzing through the air
like a mad swarm of bees seeking a target to sting
as a symphony of cannons—
hurled iron spheres of devastation
into enemy lines.
I can only imagine:
The cries of defeat—
the hoots of victory in the distance
combined with the pungent odor
of gun powder and death.
How brothers felt killing brothers
and how fathers felt killing sons
for a cause they each believed in
until they breathed their last -
I am not privileged to know
I can only imagine
(2008)
This poem is about the battle at Pea Ridge in Arkansas
