Entrenched : World War I Tribute

Adjust your wristwatches by 100 years, and we are slowly approaching the phase of World War-I when the Western front descended into a trench warfare where soldiers where mowed down for seemingly worthless swatches of land. This poem is based on World War-I.

The Archduke's driver took a wrong turn,
Shedding gun powder on the map to burn,
Bullets were embedded in the Austrian's chest,
Peace in the continent was toppled from its crest,

A cascade of furtive treaties had followed,
Within a week, all majors powers were swallowed,
The Germans were nimble and decisive in their move,
Pouring through the Flanders for their might to prove,

Their march was halted by the French and British force,
Dead level, now the war was about to take a new course,
Both the belligerents had their gains to keep,
They were tacitly willing to take a back seat,

Likewise the conditions boiled at the farther Eastern front,
It was not the only place where the Czar would bear the brunt,
You wondered how much more horrid could it get?
Troops were stretchered off by a poisonous breath,

Mowed down were brigade after brigade,
Few were spared in the ensuing enfilade,
Escalation reigned, as the methods grew efficient and cold,
Everyone forgot the hat doffing glory that they were told,

The monarchy in Russia was toppled to everyone's dread,
The Czarist calendar had the month of October painted red,
America took notice as scribing of a telegram were revealed,
Crossing Atlantic, Allied resolve had garnered much needed steel,

Final manoeuvres were made and later they came to the table,
The warring nations were crippled and the mark was indelible.

                                                                          - Rajmohan Yadav