constructing poetry

the soldiers' tale

he stole our faces,
the emperor,
with his implacable will
that said we should serve
and follow him into eternity.
an honor.
his glory.

and so the sculptors
brought us in,
by ones and twos,
turning our faces into stone—
and when we saw them standing there,
the statues with our faces
we felt cold.
for when we died
(as all men must) we knew
we would be carried deep within the earth
to stand with our faces turned
toward the standard,
waiting.

when the emperor calls,
and he will one day,
we will arise.
we will march,
wielding our swords
and spears
and bows
and chariots,
riding our stone horses
to fight some future foe.

line count: 30

Prompt ▼

Prompt for: Feb 21 (Fyn/Ren)
Subject or Theme: Terra Cotta Soldiers
Word(s) to Include: implacable, wield (or any derivatives of these words)
Forbidden Word(s): hand, thumb, museum (or any derivatives of these words)
Additional Parameters: Min 24 lines
Remember, do not use forbidden words ANYWHERE, including title or the brief description. NOTE: we came up with the idea for this prompt BEFORE the recent news.