Marionettes

Boots thumping,

words brush the backs,

of the heads--

savage, convulsed mountains,

fantastic realm of the

immense spirit,

mountains of pain,

terrible fury—

this was the war he

had been handed.

His eyes swept the looming sky--

marionettes led your boy

to death—

It was a good mission

down some dark tunnel,

all the bodies underground,

slamming, warning—

white stone chamber,

white stone doors,

a mound on a grave—

Join the majority.

Composed partly of words found in "Mines" by Susan Straight and The Bridges at Toko-Ri by James A. Michener.