Horror is an empty word

Loss, Bereavement

Terror, Desperation

Torment

all are such empty words

There are no words

not in English, Arabic

Greek, or German

to describe

marching over comrade's still warm corpses

as boots squelch in liquid sand

stumbling through

the fields of men

men lying in pieces

men you trained, bled and bet with

Left as common cattle

limbs torn, bodies gone

medics no longer anything but sandy red

captains gone and sergeants left

the battle field

seems eerily quiet

the orders, the screams

the shelling and the bombings

part of background noise

there are no words in any language

that can honor those

that can understand those

who lay there gasping

who will never make it home

there are no words

that can assuage a mother

mourning all of her sons

a child wailing for his papa

a wife weeping for her husband

a father never to see his son again

There can be no words

to replace the empty hole

once filled by a comrade

words meant to convey

only ring out hollow

sorrow holding bitter reigns

Words cannot convey

the human spirit

the human mind

the human heart

as soldier's march to war

and only some

come marching back