Axis & Allies - damowords

Death March
The stripes are marchʹd across the killing ground
Men call Poland, strong shoulderʹd Pharisees,
Etta Grunfeld in deep despair is drownʹd,
Lifeʹs struggle yieldant, drooping to her knees;
How Anna gasps
Trying to help in vain,
ʺKeep moving!ʺ the guard rasps & blows out Ettaʹs brain.
Ragged, stagʹgring, skeletal train
Filed past a Yankee bomber,
Hungry as wolves, in constant pain
For what seem’d like forever,
Wraiths in the wicked snow & rain
Tragedied together,
Carrying the pall of the ill‐condemnʹd
Marching to what could only be the end.
From town‐to‐town two worlds collide,
In ginger bread houses
Clear tears belied the warmth inside,
Grown cold the flesh freezes
Those dewy drops, the shockt Volk now that murderʹs
witnesses.
Germany
February
1945
Setting Sun
Eph’meral empire nears obsolescence,
The Towers of Tenshu straddle the sky,
As Tojo arrived for his audience
The pale moon sang a sunset lullaby;
Hurrying thro’
An iron‐studded gate,
The evening hours, he knew, drew heavy with their fate
Fast from darkening, Southern sky
Silver Superfortresses,
Eagles hunting hungry on high,
Rain’d doom upon the masses,
How many children have to die
Til the fury passes…
His city like a paper lantern burns,
Of war’s horror at last th’emperor learns…
As they watch’d the flames & flashes
To raging maelstrom fann’d,
Stonework crashes into ashes,
Tojo rais’d fisted hand,
“Sacred nations must combat on & heed honour’s demand!”
Mount Karvizawa
March 10 th
1945