Memento* (Part I) Poem by Neil Young

Thunder!
Purring like a thirty-two;
Storm-clouds,
Sagging, humourless and bleak;
Soldiers’
Spirits on the verge must break.
Beaten,
We crawl bellied over land.
Trenches,
Sanctuary, stretching miles.
Flashes
Strike for death beyond our heads,
Pumping
Ricochets in bleeding earth.
Faces
Of our friends, illuminated;
Others
That we know, eliminated.
We wait,
Each count lightening the load.
We wait,
Mumbling our unfinished prayers,
Within
The numbed silence of our minds.