Sunrise on a Battlefield

Here's a villanelle written for my creative writing class, which as you may be able to gather from the form, is not that easy to write. :)


Sunrise on a Battlefield 4/25/2011
The daybreak is nearest when grayness is whitest
And the gray rays cast rifles in heaps on the ground;
For shadows are sharpest where light is the brightest.

He grips his gun tightly, his lungs growing tightest
And waits for the sunlight without any sound.
The daybreak is nearest when grayness is whitest,

The ground all around him grows lighter, then lightest
As he waits in the trenches with mud all around,
For shadows are sharpest where light is the brightest.

He closes his eyes and imagines a flight west,
Seeing the dawn out the window, home-bound.
The daybreak is nearest when grayness is whitest,

But sure as the sun in the morning is rightest,
The soldier stands firm for his country and crown.
For shadows are sharpest where light is the brightest.

The sun rises grudgingly, seen by eyes sightless,
And grieved at the unwelcome welcome it's found.

The daybreak is nearest when grayness is whitest,
For shadows are sharpest where light is the brightest.