Sentries in the Ambush

Not enough air to quite go around
So we seek lower ground
The light plays its tricks on the trees
In forests like these
Losing the prints
Of the path just ahead
Dazzled by the sun
Where’s everyone
I saw notches in the tree trunks
I saw unfamiliar footprints
I heard evil omen
Voices in the shadow
Came to a circle of stones
And nothing was left but their bones
Cover them
If you can
Leave a sign
If you can
Send up a flare
If you can
In the dry leaves where the canopy opens
Not enough flesh remaining to say
Who fought bravely today
But I knew them all when they lived
And had fight to give
High in the pines
Searching for signs
Come upon a smoking fire pit
This is it
This is it
Count up our lower numbers
See shapes among the shadows
And now we enter the fray
And nothing can stand in our way
Slaughter them
If you can
Kill them all
Where they stand
Make an example of them
In the dry leaves where the canopy opens