Poetry Break: “Let Me Tell You How I Died” – Antietam: The Bloodiest Day

 

Hi Everybody! Can you believe November is upon us already? It’s been quite a year with the writing journey, and I can’t believe I’ll be wrapping up 2022 very soon. But 2023 is already shaping up to be an interesting one, as I just put my second manuscript on submission! How exciting! Cross your fingers for me! While we all wait for news on that front, I thought you could enjoy the latest installment in my war poem epic – this one covering the Civil War’s gruesome battle of Antietam. A terrible fight that would prove to be the deadliest day in the entire war. It’s hard to believe I’ll soon be wrapping up this giant poem, with only a few more segments to go! I sincerely hope you have enjoyed it so far, and I can’t wait to share the rest and more with you! 

 

 

Antietam – The Bloodiest Day

 

It’s a burning hot September Day

And in this jagged cornfield, I’ve lost my way

The place is bursting with enemy shell

It’ll be one of the worst, and it’s hell

 

The corn cuts my skin like blades as I run

If I can’t find my line, I will be done

But the corn is so tall, I just can’t see

And I trip over the bodies that are sprawled around me

 

A shell goes off close and knocks me to the ground

I’m buried under soil and corn by the pound

I claw my way up, I have to get free

I can’t let the shell with my name find me

 

I’ve got a life back home, a wife and kids

I can’t leave them here, not like this

But I find that’s not up to me to decide

I learn it too soon, and oh, how I cried

 

Another shell crashes into the bloody corn

My screams reach a fever pitch, my ligaments torn

My world goes black, I’m thrown to the ground

I died fast and easy, but I was never found

 

To Be Continued…. 

 

 

 

 

Photos by M.B. Henry. For more from the Civil War, click here and here. 

And for some lovely fall colors pics – click here.