Cedar Creek (revisited)

I stood there, gazing from amongst

a stand of trees,

blackjack oaks and cottonwood I believe,

they were ancient.

Dank smell of earth and the blood of history

caressed my soul,

provoking distant feelings of things, I thought

were dreams.

Before me lay fields and valleys of death that

nearly took my breath, I felt

something stir within, as my spirit remembered well

the cries of valor, mixed with pain and tears.

Author notes

Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park in west Virginia is the site of a Union victory over the Confederate forces During the Civil War, and this poem is the recollection of a very strange experience I once had when I visited this place many years ago.

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Adding your comment:
Margaret Denham
March 27

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If you're open to it you can experience some amazing feelings and emotions, especially in a place where souls wander lost and forsaken. You have an empathy to many things, Michael and this is clearly one of them; warriors of the past.

A truly masterful telling of your experience.
x-Black-Butterfly-x
March 27

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oh daddy this is such an amazing piece you have captured emotion and history that really caught me and I just love this well done
kiwigirljacks
March 27

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Isn't it amazing how going to historical places can really stir our emotions?

You have described this feeling beautifully... gorgeous piece as always hun and just love your internal rhyme!