American Wars

“American Civil War” by Zeana Romanovna

what possessed men
to stoically stand
against volleys of hellfire
three-pounder gallopers
six-pounder mortar shells
musket balls filling the air
tearing holes in dun deerskin
and homespun clad hearts
ripping red coated limbs
from their disciplined torsos
contention of manifest empire
versus incipient rage for
a raw unequivocal liberty

what possessed men
to stubbornly stand
against volleys of hellfire
howitzers smooth-bore napoleons
carriage wheeled long rifled cannon
dread minié balls filling the air
ranks of blue and gray infantry
shoulder to shoulder
advanced face to face across
killing fields run red with blood
contention of union preserved
without slavery versus a flawed
ingrained moral tradition

what possessed men
to sacrifice body and breath
in the name of intangible
principle even when
not always well understood
a mistake would be made
to judge warriors lightly
compelled as they were
by believing in something
defending of something
transcendent of self
common men raised by death
to uncommon nobility