Chaos in the Moonlight

Caleb Warner

Steel flashing in the moonlight,

A jumble of clangs and shouts

Rings in the heavy air.

Smoke and ashes float

Fifteen miles of desolation,

Brother against brother,

Friend against friend.

And the worst part is

That no one really knows Why.

Steel on skin,

A dark red line appears,

Clogged with mud and ragged cloth.

The warrior bleeds forth gore.

Raging on in madness,

The fighting will last all night.

Forward, he cries from the rear.

More men rush to the front,

More bodies are piled on the heap,

And no one can see through the fog of war.

Matted hair and dust and gore,

The warrior bleeds once more.

In the height of the battle,

When Lunaris claims its peak,

And the land is revealed

One side retreats

The other charges

No one knows who

Confusion reigns

In their blind madness,

They fire at random.

Black shafts whistling,

Piercing into unsuspecting,

Unprotected backs.

The warrior bleeds no more