Elegy

During my third semester in College, I participated in Inter-Hostel Poetry writing competition. The topic given on the spot was "Elegy" along with two other topics. In a duration of one and half hour I wrote the following..

Quartered by the hands of war, 
The corpse now stinks.
The flames have now reached the stars, 
but the memories of dead still blinks.

They rode, They charged, 
They stroke a fierce blow.
They fought with all they had, 
Yet they lie here so low.

When a man dies, 
Three lives are taken not one.
When a man closes his eyes, 
Dies a father, husband and a son.

A lover and a brother always dies, 
For they are euphemism for sacrifice.
But even the dark and fierce hell cries, 
When a son dies in front of his father's eyes.

Often waged by foolish people, 
Grey beards and Silver-heads.
Who have always fed on breast's nipple, 
They go on hunt, instead.

An eye for an eye and a life for a life, 
Makes the whole world blind and dead.
When all the souls are out of life, 
Will the king rule the dead? 

Home they brought her warrior dead, 
What's done is done and what's said is said.
They can return money and grace, 
What they can't bring back is a happy face.

After the men are slaughtered, 
Hell falls on widows and daughter.
For conquerors when served with wine and ale, 
They look for a free brothel.

Words can't bind the sorrow
For they fall hollow and shallow
To a grief which avenges
The purest emotion, Revenge

About the Painting:

Title: Allegory of War, 1628
Artist: Peter Paul Rubens
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