The Siege

By Josh Henry


They came in autumn of 1941
They came marching with their tanks and guns
They hoped to be swift and leave none
But the fighting had just began
The people resisted with their guns and bayonets
The outskirts became a battleground, a front of the war
The fighting was fierce, and among the defeaters not a single
regret
The city was bombed as the distant artillery roared
Stories of flour mixed with sawdust to make bread
Tanks rolling off the assembly line and straight into battle

Of those arrested of cannibalism of the dead
Of the rifles and machine gun’s distant rattle
For 872 days the besieged city never fell
For 872 long days the people of the besieged city lived through
Hell

Poetry