A Description of a Struggle

Filing in, in pairs, swaying like trees in a storm,
Each hampered by the encumbering leg-chains
Twinning them as revolutionary brothers,
They struggled into their meagre death chamber.

Casting back unsure eyes for the edge of fratricide
The men raised their last moments of strength
Into the old anthem of their motherland,
As the Captain retreated back into the observation booth.

The rousing voices brought the other soldiers to unease
So the Captain lifted his finger toward the furnace door,
And the shuffling guilty slammed it hard, receding the anthem
To muffles replaced by the ringing of the iron rivets.

So Captain hovered his hand over the trigger button,
That anthem of his youth still washing over his spirit,
Wavering at the blood rising from heart to head, he slammed hard, Orchestrating blazing flames soaring in symphony with screams.

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Grigori Rasputin, Russian mystic and holy man, was born today in 1869.

Vladimir Lenin, Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist, died today in 1924.

George Orwell, English novelist, essayist, journalist and critic, died today in 1950.