They thrashed the cotton-headed weeds,
Withdrawing strategically, again and again,
As the enemy dispatched new armies of parachuting seeds
To reinforce the battlefield for some latter campaign.
They were beaten, they knew, their numbers too few
To take on an entire ditch bank.
For among the legions arrayed against them so rank,
All manner of hideous imagination grew.
There were hydra-headed grass monsters whose powers surpassed
The efficacy of any common warrior’s blade,
Poisonous spores, man-eating vines, dragons massed -
Multitudes of the most malevolent grade.
But the heroes stood their ground for honor’s sake.
With lattice-strip swords tempered by childhood consecration,
They made the weeping-willow swamp creature’s tentacles break,
And saved the world from utter annihilation.
~ Daniel F Mitchell |
