i rode the wings of the osprey from the shore
as we had learned of the skirmish that was about to be;
soaring overhead, we looked down to see:

the redoubts were in the valley
at the foot of the mountain;
the cannons were on the mountain ridge.
the men on mountain
chewed on twists,
spitting the dark amber fluid
on the dirt creating dark puddles of mud;
puffed and gnawed on cigar butts;
sported scraggly beards,
wore long duster overcoats,
armed with heavy long swords,
flintlock pistols,
Bowie knives;
they fought among themselves
for entertainment
until
they stood by their cannons
with cannonballs and barrels of powder
by their side;

below, young men in the redoubts
looked warily upward,
naive but resolute
unsure,
shaven,
wearing flannel shirts,
suspendered canvas trousers
tucked into leather work boots
under broad brimmed hats,
holding their hoes, axes,
occasionally, a musket.

the young women were in a glen
further up the valley
taking care of their farms,
tending the gardens,
reaping the crops,
gathering eggs from the chicken coops;
milking the cows,
pumping the milk churns for butter,
gathering together
while abhorring war.

in the dense woods behind the rocky ridge,
unbeknownst to the men on the mountain
or the young men in the valley,
wild things began to gather quietly:
mountain lions, grizzly bears, even bobcats
were not pleased with someone
treading on their mountain.

the men on the mountain
retired early with plans
to light off the cannons before dawn
to wipe out the redoubts, killing the young men
before claiming the canyon as their own.

when they were asleep, the wild things
crept from the woods, slew the sentries,
then wiped out the men in their tents;

the din was heard in the redoubts below;
the young men were perplexed with wonder;
the next morning, they only saw the silent cannons
sitting on the precipice of the mountain ridge
except in the predawn light,
they spotted a grizzly bear on the ridge
walking by the cannons on the ridge.

After several days of quiet
with no one stirring on the ridge,
the young men convened;
they dismantled the redoubts,
returned to their women in the glen;
they agreed not to ascend the mountain
to discover what happened
on the ridge beyond the woods.