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Pavel and Illyena

Music ringing in my ears
I see a bearish old man
Dancing with a little girl
Much younger than he in years

She laughs and skips
Sometimes standing upon his toes
He chuckles from beneath his growing beard
Heart saddened for all to well he knows

Hammers ringing from within the town
She steps back to curtsey as if she wore a gown...

...instead of rags.


Polished boots splashed with mud
Soldiers marching in step
A terrible thud
As the People's Army shells the town.

She screams as he covers her mouth and takes her hand
Throwing her to the floor as he hears the command
"You sir!  Come out or we shall shoot!"
His worn boot with the hole in the toe
He kicks ashes upon her and covers her with a fire blackened board

And leaves the barn to face the People's Horde.

Mouth full of ashes
Tears carving familiar paths across her cheek
She listens to the shouts
The old man pleading
Three shots
Sharp footsteps receding

She breathes a deep and terrible sob
Coughing as the ash cowers within her throat
She crawls toward the door
Peeking out through a crack
Pale sunlight wriggling through
a slice of bright upon her face

Little girl crying
Staring through a crack in a burnt barn door
What is an aged peasant to a captain in the People's Army?
A bleeding corpse.

nothing more

Author notes

So sad, much more so than I had originally seen when I closed my eyes...

A contest entry

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Comments


  • upperworld06
    September 18, 2008
    Edit | Reply
    I don't know what to say. it's so sad and such agood write, good job and good luc


  • Avatar of Innocence
    August 3, 2008

    Edit | Reply
    This was quite explicit. What a story! The rhyme seemed to be the forerunner in the beginning, then tossed over in favor of relating the integrity of the poem's message. Or am I misunderstanding in thinking this is not a free-verse poem where rhyming takes its place where it will and where it won't?


    • Demington
      August 3, 2008
      Edit | Reply
      I've actually been trying out a new style where I sit down and just write whatever it is I am going to write.

      When it rhymes, it rhymes. When it does not, it does not.

      A turn-off for some, and understandably so. But it makes writing the poem a joy to do.

      Thanks for the comment!


  • Meroza
    July 8, 2008

    Edit | Reply
    Amazing, you've captured your view well and made a story out of it. well done!

    The best of luck