"ardennes" poems
Just for a moment
I was a time traveler
Nicotine, coffee beans
Trudging through the Ardennes
Running down some cobblestone road
I still don’t know where it goes
Just for a moment
I was a woman
A slightly distorted version of myself
Strong cheekbones petite nose
What are those?
Just for a moment
Seventy-three years ago
A machine gun in my hand
Making my last stand
Just for a moment
I was truly myself
Something I’ve never felt
My soul is crying out
Apr 3, 2018
Apr 3, 2018 at 3:46 AM UTC
The Flak hits the wings and body of the plane
506th Easy Company
Of the 101st Airborne
The leg bag
Tore right off
They jumped lower than they should have been
Tracer bullets burning holes through the parachute
Tracers spraying around in the air
Firing in every direction
Paul "Buck" Rogers
Lands in a tree
Some worked their way down
Through a farm area
To a hedge row
Easy Company captured and destroyed
The guns at Brecourt Manor
Saving countless lives on Utah Beach
They helped to liberate the Dutch
Angels from the sky
The black and white footage is amazing
The gratitude and love the people show
To the men is wonderful
Finally free after four years
Of Occupation by the Germans
Battling from village to village
Along "Hell's Highway,"
Easy Company crossed Holland to the Rhine River
Nine men of Easy Company
Lost their lives
Battling in Holland
By the End of the Holland campaign,
Easy Company had been on the frontline
For more than 70 days
On Dec. 16, 1944
****** launched his offensive into the Ardennes
The Battle of the Bulge would become
The largest engagement
In the history
Of the U.S. Army
600,000 soldiers would fight in the battle
Easy Company was told to hold the perimeter of Bastogne
Surrounded by Germans
Branches knocked off of trees
Holes in the ground
Artillery attack
88s, mortars, rockets
They jumped into foxholes
He could see all the shells hitting from the foxhole
The wounded got relief from battle
Maybe a ticket home
If they died they were at peace
At Berchtesgaden
They uncovered artwork
In Zell Am Zee, Austria
Easy Company helped secure
The surrender of 25,000 German troops
On November 30, 1945
The 101st Airborne Division
Was inactivated
Day after Day
They fought together
Fought for each other
Knowing some would not return
This veteran said,
"I cherish the memories
Of a question my grandson asked me the other day.
'Grandpa, Were you a hero in the war?'
Grandpa said no
But I served in a company of heroes."
Feb 22, 2015
Feb 22, 2015 at 1:52 PM UTC
I long to someone I don't know .
to something about to happen
your eyes are the hidden green fire in smooth stones of the valley
the giant sprit of Charleville
The call of mighty Rimbaud.
crawls beneath my skin like a warm wind
I was about to give up
till I saw a promising smile like a lily glowing in the deepest darkness of my soul different from all lilies of the Ardennes
Oct 28, 2022
Oct 28, 2022 at 5:10 PM UTC
The rain began
to fall behind me
as I crossed
the border
I expected it
to chase after me
and talk excitedly
to me in raindrops
about this & that
that & this
- but, it didn't.
It fell in one country
and not the other.
It was as if the rain
had mislaid its passport
or hadn't received
a visa to rain here.
I cycled off
into the Ardennes
looking back
at the Dutch rain
falling frustratedly
unable to understand
the sun
talking in Belgian.
Aug 1, 2015
Aug 1, 2015 at 5:33 PM UTC
It's quiet now,no sound I hear
The big guns rest,and so does fear
The snow has hardened with the dead
Blue-ish figures,battle-bred
Silently I wait for dawn
I wonder if I'll live that long
I see the wound a crystal-red
A while before,oh how it bled
The pain is dull
I'm cold and numb
When warm black sleep begins to come
And summons dreamscapes,one by one
There before me,row by row
Frozen dead men seem to grow
A horrid garden in the snow
Grim distorted blackish flowers
I cannot say if theirs or ours
I do not know why this was done
I cannot say who lost or won
I hear it now,that final call
In battles' rage we had to fall
In death we're brothers
Brothers All!
Jul 6, 2013
Jul 6, 2013 at 5:12 AM UTC
De toutes les douleurs douces
Je compose mes magies !
Paul, les paupières rougies,
Erre seul aux Pamplemousses.
La Folle-par-amour chante
Une ariette touchante.
C'est la mère qui s'alarme
De sa fille fiancée.
C'est l'épouse délaissée
Qui prend un sévère charme
A s'exagérer l'attente
Et demeure palpitante.
C'est l'amitié qu'on néglige
Et qui se croit méconnue.
C'est toute angoisse ingénue,
C'est tout bonheur qui s'afflige :
L'enfant qui s'éveille et pleure,
Le prisonnier qui voit l'heure,
Les sanglots des tourterelles,
La plainte des jeunes filles.
C'est l'appel des Inésilles
- Que gardent dans des tourelles
De bons vieux oncles avares -
A tous sonneurs de guitares.
Voici Damon qui soupire
Sa tendresse à Geneviève
De Brabant qui fait ce rêve
D'exercer un chaste empire
Dont elle-même se pâme
Sur la veuve de Pyrame
Tout exprès ressuscitée,
Et la forêt des Ardennes
Sent circuler dans ses veines
La flamme persécutée
De ces princesses errantes
Sous les branches murmurantes,
Et madame Malbrouck monte
A sa tour pour mieux entendre
La viole et la voix tendre
De ce cher trompeur de Comte
Ory qui revient d'Espagne
Sans qu'un doublon l'accompagne.
Mais il s'est couvert de gloire
Aux gorges des Pyrénées
Et combien d'infortunées
Au teint de lys et d'ivoire
Ne fit-il pas à tous risques
Là-bas, parmi les Morisques !...
Toute histoire qui se mouille
De délicieuses larmes,
Fût-ce à travers des chocs d'armes,
Aussitôt chez moi s'embrouille,
Se mêle à d'autres encore,
Finalement s'évapore
En capricieuses nues,
Laissant à travers des filtres
Subtils talismans et philtres
Au fin fond de mes cornues
Au feu de l'amour rougies.
Accourez à mes magies !
C'est très beau. Venez, d'aucunes
Et d'aucuns. Entrez, bagasse !
Cadet-Roussel est paillasse
Et vous dira vos fortunes.
C'est Crédit qui tient la caisse.
Allons vite qu'on se presse !
318