Woodland’s Parrot Rifles Stand Watch

Woodland’s Parrot Rifles Stand Watch

Is ever war fiercer than when fought against your own?
Is ever hatred deeper than when it’s felt deep in the bone?
Are ever fires much hotter than when flamed against your kin?
Are ever passions keener than when fighting for what has been?

Parrot rifles, mow them down,
Let none survive this wrath.
Keep raiders from riding town to town
On the Morgan path.

Are ever fears more freezing than when bound around with guilt?
Are ever denials more prevalent than when in the system built?
Is ever freedom dearer than when it’s bought with a life?
Has ever American seen more horrors or more strife?

Parrot rifles, now witness
The secret stories well told
Of Campbell’s house upon the side
Of tracks of Underground Railroad.

Do ever hatreds cease to be after the last battle fought?
Or, do they linger, festering on, like some gangr’ous plot?
Do the wrongs ever get put right or the sorrows be dwindling?
Or does the suffering await a match just like a pile of kindling?

Parrot rifles, stand your watch
On Woodland’s overhanging plot.
Let not your stories e’er be silenced
Nor those who fought forgot’.

© Copyright, Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw, 2000.
All rights reserved.