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.
The war drums beat at midnight and they echoed through the glen,
Like the heartbeat of a giant that had woken up again.
Each thump was a reminder of the ones who had gone before,
And a summons to the living to be ready for the war.
But a young drummer in the vanguard changed the rhythm of the beat,
To a lullaby of comfort for the soldiers on their feet.
And the tension in the camp dissolved like frost in morning light,
For the drum that calls to battle can also calm the night.
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Commentary
Drums announce war, but this eight-line epic shows a drummer who finds a second use for them. He turns the beat of battle into a lullaby for tired soldiers.
“The war drums beat at midnight and they echoed through the glen, like the heartbeat of a giant that had woken up again.” Each beat reminds the army “of the ones who had gone before” and calls “the living to be ready for the war.”
Then “a young drummer in the vanguard changed the rhythm of the beat, to a lullaby of comfort.” The tension “dissolved like frost in morning light,” for “the drum that calls to battle can also calm the night.”