Wednesday 17 June 2015

Waterloo - 1815!

Suburb of greater Brussels now,
Mecca of tourists keen to see
The battleground and learn just how
This farmland site made history.

A confrontation closely fought
To quell Napoleonic pride
So many bright young lives cut short;
Countless horses also died.

A late start in a boggy plain
Cavalry charges, thrust, riposte
Much cannon fire to kill and maim
I repeat - so many lives were lost.

Officers fell in the mire
Farms defended and retaken
For both sides the results were dire
Though Wellington remained unshaken.

Germans, Belgians, English, Dutch,
Fought bravely – then the Prussians came
For the Old Guard this proved just too much
A massacre – more troops were slain.

The map of Europe is redrawn
Blücher and Wellington depart
Victorious in a sadder dawn
But living still is Bonaparte!

(c) Poet in the woods 2015



Wellington at Waterloo by Robert Alexander Hillingford

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