Fleeting Thought
As I walk upon the beach
I listen to the waves.
I like to hear them crash against the rocks
Time and time again.
I think of an army charging a stronghold
A legion of surging white knights,
Contemptuously charging a wall of granite-faced men,
Brown wind-cracked faces
Shields locked for battle
Death alone will break them.
Streaming white horsehair standards
Lifted over the crest of a ridge.
The sun’s level rays
Striking fire
On their spear points,
And their gleaming blue shields.
Instantly rises a full-throated war cry
The clash and grind of weapons of steel,
The hollow booming of war horns, the rolling thunder
Of shield meeting shield.
A dark mass checked but an instant, a moment’s indecision,
That seems without end.
But a moment’s indecision, before the charge smashes on
With shattering speed yet again.
Yet the defenders stand
Like an island of rock
Thrust at from all sides,
The tides ebb and flow.
While the waves of destruction roar in
Wave upon wave,
Then swiftly glide back like a shadow
Or a wild animal timing its spring,
Leaving ground open
Littered with wounded or dead.
Ground already fought over
To be recontested again,
As though both sides suddenly stopped, together
And drew breath to pause.
Instantly another legion springs forward
With uplifted spear,
Against a solid line of warriors that never breaks
Or crumbles in fear.
Till at last with a long heave
Combining together
The waves rise up
To pass over and engulf them.
Boiling white foam bubbles all around
[...] Read more
poem by Terence George Craddock
Added by Poetry Lover
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