Devotion

A soldier took a sojourn
from the clinging crimson mud
and met a girl whose auburn
hair consumed him in a flood

of fiercely raging torrents
he was helpless to resist,
despite the coming warrants
martial minds would soon enlist.

They took their time together
breaking down forbidden walls
forgetting every fetter
like the bugle’s distant calls;

to fall in fields that flourished
bearing blooms of every name
upon the mattress furnished
shrugging off unwanted shame,

embracing with such passion
not a hair could fit between
these lovers whose attraction
made all conflict seem obscene.

But others harbored ardor
much less innocent indeed,
for patriotic honor
they were boisterous to bleed

determined to deliver
all deserters of the cause
through testaments of terror
those in power labeled laws.

A unit was instructed
“Bring him back alive or dead”
they searched until they spotted
him with her whose hair was red,

they sought to merely capture
him, but chaos soon ensued
as automatic chatter
spoke of pain to those pursued

and when they spied the twosome
lying silent, hand in hand
they knew they found a reason
more profound than any land.