The Flags Waved on a Hillside in France

A crashing storm filled the grey sky's expanse,
Ghost faced soldiers fiercely fought in the rain,
And the flags waved on a hillside in France.

As battle lines danced a torturous dance,
Slaughtering the brave, strong, weak, and insane,
A crashing storm filled the grey sky's expanse.

Honorable men brought to bare death's lance,
Blood flowed from the world's most lethal campaign,
And the flags waved on a hillside in France.

When ordered the faithful forced their advance,
While rifles blazed a pernicious refrain,
A crashing storm filled the grey sky's expanse.

Sacrificed victims of their circumstance,
Spoils inhumed under the soil where slain,
And the flags waved on a hillside in France.

While given the gift of another chance,
Intoxicated on freedom's champagne,
A crashing storm filled the grey sky's expanse.
And the flags waved on a hillside in France.

Villanelle; Consists of nineteen lines and is comprised of two rhymes. The first and third lines of the first verse become the alternating final lines of the next four verses. In the last stanza, they form a couplet and become the "Closure". Finally, all the 2nd lines of each stanza rhyme with each other.

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