Normandy
A poem
On the beaches of hell
the sand is red.
Scream red beneath
a sickle sun.
Forward came the great beast
with tens of thousands
of faces.
They marched, gunmetal gray
and resolute.
Throats parched, eyes burning
with the sting of powder.
Men fell.
into a boiling, hungry sea.
Men fell.
onto gritty, bloodied sand.
Broken as if thrown
from angry horses.
And when the guns had fallen silent,
a sweet breeze
blew gently through their hair
kissed their lips
ruffled tattered cloth.
Nature’s comfort wasted.
You can read all the statistics
in the history books.
But their names,
like their loved ones’ tears
have been forgotten.
Author notes
On D-Day, June 6, 1944, 24,000 Canadian, American, and British men invaded the beaches of Normandy, France.
Military buffs say it was the largest seaborne invasion in history. I’m not sure that mattered to the 4,414 Allied men who were killed. There were over 6500 wounded.
