Draft in the author’s style. This poem was written for Poet in the Battlefield to sit beside the author’s own readings, and is waiting for the author’s review. The commentary is a working draft too.
Before the charge, a single voice rose from the ranks below,
A cry of hope and thunder, like a wind that starts to blow.
It was not a word of hatred, nor a boast of pride and might,
It was a name, a home, a promise, and a flame against the night.
And the others took it up in turn, and the valley shook with sound,
Till the fear that ran within us fled and left us on solid ground.
For a cry is more than volume, it is courage set to song,
And the ones who sing together are the ones who stay strong.
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Commentary
A battle cry is usually shown as anger. This eight-line epic gives it a gentler and stronger meaning: a shared voice that turns fear into courage.
Before the charge, “a single voice rose from the ranks below,” “a cry of hope and thunder, like a wind that starts to blow.” It was “not a word of hatred,” but “a name, a home, a promise, and a flame against the night.”
The others “took it up in turn, and the valley shook with sound.” The fear within the ranks “fled” and left them “on solid ground.” The poem closes, “a cry is more than volume, it is courage set to song.”