ONE THOUSAND DRUMS

Written for {ruser:biar}'s TAKE MY PHRASE, PLEASE contest -

ONE THOUSAND DRUMS

In the distance came a drumroll
carried through the cold night air,
quite out of place and haunting;
I heard a thousand trumpets blare.

Looking around me as I listened,
all my buddies were sound asleep;
they didn't hear the drums that night,
knowing it was my watch to keep.

I stood there questioning my sanity;
no one could sleep through the sound
of one thousand drums and trumpets
when a mortar hit the nearby ground.

The blast took many lives that night,
those left standing fought anew,
a thousand drums beat out a warning;
soon the battle cries were few.

As we watched, the sky grew brighter
as ghostly drummers marched on by
and then the buglers sounded reveille,
calling for those men who had to die.

As quickly as they had appeared,
they soon disappeared from my view;
only the sound of one thousand drums
echoed when the fight was through.

It is the spirits of warriors past
that spur our young warriors on,
destiny rules the outcome of all,
as the forgotten sound their song.

Countrymom
6/22/06
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