Collateral Damage

by tfawcus

Who are the herdsmen in this wilding night
that gather up the straggled waywardness
of those who clothe their weak, subsistent selves
in shrouded veils of faded silken dreams?

How safe is walled defence against fell wraiths
whose howling makes the nightmares shift and stamp,
intent to tear them free from stable thought,
white-eyed with terror, baring foam-flecked teeth?

Who saddles them, these fearsome warhorse mounts
that carry fallen angels, poisoned breath
and hate? What drives the palpitating beat
of drums that thud in honour of a god

against the weak and frail, who crouch behind
thin walls of clay and wait, no place to go?
Apocalyptic horsemen ride once more
to raze the withered remnants. No recourse.

Write A Review

Recognized

Some thoughts on the situation in Mosul.

Image: Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - Death, Famine, War & Conquest, an 1887 painting by Viktor Vasnetsov.

Pays one point and 2 member cents.

You need to login or register to write reviews. It's quick! We only ask four questions to new members.

tfawcus has granted FanStory.com, its affiliates and its syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.

Four quatrains of blank verse

Collateral Damage

by tfawcus

The FanStory Store For Writers

Your Poem On A Mug