The Day Liberty Died

You could taste the smoke for miles.
A think sulfur, twanging the back of the throat.
Ceder and Pine smoldered in a symphony for the senses,
The spoils were all too intoxicating.

Explosion after explosion scorched the still night air,
A thousand candles burning in a veil of acrid darkness.
The crescendo of artillery shells and grenades
Danced along the waves of our delusion.

I remember the lies they sold us,
At bargain prices on the street corner newspaper stands,
Promising prosperity and fortune, if only we would
Sell our souls for the bottom line.

I sat on that front porch, staring at the flies
Prancing above my corn, in that pale Montana sunset,
While they told me my daughter was a hero,
For eating a bullet in another man's war.

The sadness creeps up from the earth
A dense haze, choking the life from the land.
Where once there was beauty, only death remained,
The day Liberty died.