Talvisota
Factitious precursors of arbitrary nations Continental powers jostle for position
War weary men observe grimly from flesh-rich gravesides
First weapons are of words, descending like vultures then gone in an incendiary rain
Isthmus soon choked with hundreds of thousands
Five routes of invasion mark the beginning
Clustered to fire at night Choosing the quicker of deaths
Frigid immobilization Fodder for an alien creed
Where murder upholds commands and enemies are saviours
When the wounded become glacial statues of reticent desperation
Who was it that predicted swift victory with little resistance?
"Why?" they wonder as the warmth of their blood wanes to ice
In heaps lay some while others fall in long rows
Fanaticism well wielded deflects what seemed forgone
Starved Frozen Massed for execution
Weapons burden capitulating hordes
What can possibly be offered to a people
By a vanguard forsaken and forlorn?
Gnawing beast from the steppes Human tide pliant yet unremitting
Death invisible inducing fear of darkness
Unable to pray even for an end
Infiltrated encampments erupt perfervid blood frenzy
No friend No foe No advance No retreat
Attacks planned solely for dislodgment Layers of corpses triply thick
Yet reinforcements seem inexhaustible as did the obstinant protectors
Bombardments once inconceivable break now fabled lines
Over fields of the fallen swarms a final thrust
Self-inflicted wounds of Esau from a blade not his own