The General

He stood at the window screen;
Eight Hundred Thousand souls cried out
In vain.
          "I wanted to tell them
"their pain would end. I should have the power
"let us end this now." But the powers said
No... we wash our hands. You failed, sir,
Now it ends.
                  "We are alone. Few
"against the many. How?
"Let us not fall prey to moral decay,
"but stay and fight.
"We the few. We the right.
The line in the sand: We stay here,
We don't run."
                      He sat and told
Of his worst day; when his soul
Seemed stolen away. And how his Stand
Brought peace again to a country,
Not a man. He sat and told it
All: sacrifice, pain.
                            "Enough."