The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

By the Beautiful Blue Danube
by Alex Grehy

How they danced, barefoot, free, faith in peace, trusting fate.
Between wars, twenties roared, so they waltzed, life was good.
How they died, barefoot, cold, peace was near, so was hate.

Sands shifted, conflict loomed. Were they safe? Should they wait?
Changing world, building doubts, still they hoped, knocked on wood.
How they danced, barefoot, free, faith in peace, trusting fate.

Friends became enemies, wolves disguised, fascist states,
Prejudice, spite, greed, stole away their livelihoods
How they died, barefoot, cold, peace was near, so was hate

Warning bells went unheard, truths told did not conflate,
Labelled, marked, villified, fear stalked their neighbourhoods
How they danced, barefoot, free, faith in peace, trusting fate.

Soldiers shout, “Get in line, take off shoes, stand up straight!”
Rifles fire, red Danube, corpses float, dire driftwood.
How they died, barefoot, cold, peace was near, so was hate

Iron shoes grasp their ghosts, proof that time can’t abate,
They plead, down the years, “Remember us, if you would,
How we danced, barefoot, free, faith in peace, trusting fate,
How we died, barefoot, cold, peace was near, so was hate.”

Fiction © Copyright Alex Grehy
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

More from author Alex Grehy:

After a lifetime of writing technical non-fiction, Alex Grey is fulfilling her dream of writing poems and stories that engage the reader’s emotions. Her work has been featured by a wide range of publications including Siren’s Call, Raconteur, Bookends Review, and Toasted Cheese. One of her comic poems is also available via a worldwide network of public fiction dispensers managed by French publisher, Short Edition. Her ingredients for contentment are narrow boating, greyhounds, singing and chocolate. It is a sweet life, yet Alex’ original view of the world has led to her best friend to say ‘For someone so lovely, you’re very twisted!

Please click here to discover more!