Saturday, August 6, 2016

The Tartar War: Parts I-IV

The Tartar War: Parts I-IV
I: The Fog

The war that held the nations in a general calamity
According to official records, modestly began at sea
A slender drop of tartar on a navigator's instrument
Induced an incident that would be lastingly significant

Away from safe and neutral waters for her taunting exercise
The vessel trespassed flagrantly as all onboard remained unwise
Where testing of new armaments to better to deploy know how
Provoked a hail of angry shots that sharply glanced across her bow

The consequential rupture through the highest power's corridor
Cost influential delegates their once precarious rapport
A trade agreement, months to mend, summarily was voted down
As seafood flew in hot exchange before the speaker's sternest frown

There hadn't been in ages a dispute sufficiently intense
For eagerest belligerents to test their limits of defence
Or for a young man restless in the stagnant atmosphere of peace
To have a chance to his disgruntlement against a foe release

The War Department, drawing on experiences of the past
Preferred a cautious strategy above the fury of the blast
The volatile voters were secure on the domestic front
For the initial ground campaign, the volunteers would bear the brunt

The Ministry of Propaganda's offices were set to swell
With new recruits impatient to engage their captivating spell
Instructions to the masses would arrive from them on channels wide
With memos of superiors to use as their unfailing guide

Investors scooped a windfall from the market's sudden closing turn
At least the ones who had a major stake in a defence concern
By gambling correctly on their government's combative stance
Their faith in a negotiated settlement stood not a chance

In short, the Tartar War was as ridiculous in proper name
As it would be for its commencement to on any culprit blame
A critical decision bowing to the pressures of the day
Of people in a looping chain where no one held the final say

II: The Pilot

For Captain Scott, familiarity with his patrol's routine
Assured him there was no assault he couldn't get away from clean
Until he dared to make a second pass at a forbidding base
Whose rocket stripped him of his plane to tumble in the clear blue space

The wisdom of his cozy school, he had occasion to refute
When well above the safety zone, he opened up his parachute
And let himself be swallowed in the vast and panoramic scope
Descending to the wild wood with bare survival as his hope

His landing by observers tracked, his apprehension was a breeze
To contemplate his coming horrors left him feeling ill at ease
From pushy escort, freedom shocked, with well aimed arrows incoming
Delivered by who called themselves the children of the burning spring

On disadvantage's behalf, it was their attribute to act
Inviting him to share the shelter of a hut from flora hacked
Their hieroglyphs depicted as an active torch the local peak
Apparently the exit of an incandescent vapour leak

The base commander thought the flame too much of an unwelcome draw
With hard cement he'd stemmed its hole and made its light against the law
And now with entrance to its perch by somber sentries strictly manned
A push to take it from the ground was sounder dreamed than could be planned

The rescued man indulged in the repose of his idyllic gains
Participating in the hunt and painting scenes with berry stains
The women were attracted to the stranger from the morning sky
And to engage his company were none of them the least bit shy

An airstrip added to the base brought powered flight within his range
His stealthy raid to steal a plane with tribal help was to arrange
They silently subdued the guards, attacking in the dead of night
Before the siren sounded, he was in a cockpit, taking flight

He pivoted to see that the remaining planes would grounded stay
Providing the accomplices the time to make a getaway
Then arching to the mountaintop, his payload would ignite the blaze
To draw the cheering of his friends and win from them their highest praise

III: The Spy

By embassy officials had Penelope been proudly bred
The same who put the calling of a spy in her attractive head
Recruiting her from childhood to eavesdrop on the guests who came
For tidbits of importance in negotiations' ruthless game

She had a gift for languages that made her the astutest bet
To infiltrate the enemy where access to their plans was let
Their own assessment would confirm her typing was impeccable
And rate her presentation as both polished and professional

They hired her to shuffle papers in the transportation corps
An area with less of what precisely she was looking for
Though movements could be analyzed to military targets glean
And her employer dining with a general, she'd plainly seen

To get him into bed with her where she could force his secrets out
Applying her seductive charm, she masterfully went about
The mailroom clerk found her request a difficult one to resist
And finally allowed her leave to scan the senders on her list

Her prying eye identified the only knowledge she could use
Discovering her boss's love for glossy shots of women's shoes
The magazine subscription struck the woman as peculiar
For he who had no partner he could lavish, in particular

The fetish had a deep effect upon the footwear that she chose
To wiggle for his warped delight, she shamelessly exposed her toes
But he seemed not to notice as he tended to affairs of state
Regardless of her podia, he would not ask her on a date

Her subtle passes having failed to magnetize his interest
Improperly atop her desk she lifted up her pumps to rest
The tactic proved successful by the invitation that she found
To meet inside his office after work with no one else around

The hour reached, she checked herself and moved in for the final kill
And found the mailroom clerk instead with drink her cast off shoe to fill
He'd buried his subscription in the catalogs of his employ
In order to conceal his shame, no matter how he'd spies annoy

IV: The Battle

The khakis thought their bold assault would take their aquas by surprise
With all they had in men and arms, the order came to mobilize
Their focus was a stretch of pasture pushing well inside their zone
Whose long abandoned soil had by choking weeds been overgrown

Their armoured column ground along with disconcerting steadiness
As fighters shot past overhead to demonstrate their readiness
Morale was high enough for marchers to pursue a lively hymn
And in their step to furnish an additional degree of vim

But their intention had been known in time for equal force to mass
Opposing them in aqua trenches straight before where they would pass
Who'd lined the road on either side with crushing cannons to discharge
As long the invading army wanted to remain at large

Allowed to push as far as to the gates outside their dreary claim
Belonging to an area that to their eyes looked all the same
They opted to retire to the comfort of the canvas tent
From many days of marching had their energy been greatly spent

The hopeful promise of the dusk to give an interval of sleep
By blazing guns along their flank, would prove impossible to keep
A whole division fell at once, who'd occupied their outer row
In flimsy structures there condemned to face the muzzles of their foe

Determined to their posture keep, the khakis to their camp were bound
Releasing planes to terminate the lethal presence on the ground
The fires from the payloads caused a cauldron of infernal heat
In this successful rescue from an unexpected snap defeat

At night, the fell hostilities converted to a gripping clash
As hand-to-hand the combat sank and through the ranks the shells would smash
Machine guns peppered out on angles bent to wreak a heavy toll
And flames engulfed the battlefield to make the demolition whole

By dawn, the sole survivor in the middle of a ghastly heap
To plant his flag of triumph in the blood soaked surface firm and deep
Would find it beneficial to have had a better sense of line
When his proud stabbing stake released the detonation of a mine

(to be continued)
  
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© 2007, 2016. Verses by David Skerkowski. All rights reserved.

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