war_poetry | Grace Tan, 'Let all things be beautiful'

Let all things be beautiful

In the battlefield
Glory and Honour maim the dead
As leaders slowly feel the losses.

Wretched scenes;
Memories only, leave the soil
Scarred,
Forever with the fear.

When you tread
Hear the silent scream
Those hearts beating wildly
In the disgusting scent of terror.

Is this not what you claim?
Is this not what you dreamt of when you gave the order?
Is this not
But what it is… when you can only give silence.

And it is in the same silence those bodiless soldiers
Mock you,
With their soundless weeping laughs
For what fools we have all been!

A warped, aching laughter.
It echoes in your head.

You bow excruciatingly.
I bet people never knew how tormenting it is to live.

But mourn,
see the scattered pieces
Of dismembered parts
Twisted.

A broken mirror;
But sworn this one will plague you with more than seven years of wretchedness.

These deeds
Can never be forgiven.
But still, just like the caterpillar,
There’s a wait for a day, when there is courage,

Face the sea of rotten corpses, maggots-filled,
To say without ruin,
“Let all things be beautiful.”

by Grace Tan