peace arrives like a dark night over a full moon

peace arrives like a dark night over a full moon

fiction
edward w pritchard

Sitting upright, hours till the eve of battle begins. Peace arrives like a dark night over a full moon. Listen, the moon casts no shadow, the hour of battle approaches but I am at peace, restfully I doze.

My enemy stirs and coughs in sleep. Sounds filter, softly small animals creep about the battlefield. I am hungry with anticipation. Confident I remember. Life beckons, soon the hour of battle begins.

Two years later, after the battle of Gettysburg, I sit in Baltimore and remember the shelling. Hours and hours of merciless bombardment. Bullets so thick a man could hold up a glass jar and have it pulverized in moments. Yet I am intact. No sense worrying about shrapnel metal and minnie balls now.

Greet life anew.