Smoke Signal
 
Smoke lifted skyward after the fight
hanging over the grass
 
sending the news that would make people choke
on the event that had come to pass.
 
Most men who died would only be known
as part of the battle scene mass
 
frozen in history by the name of one man
whether Indian or private first class.
 
The fish in the river did not hear the noise
nor smell the gunfire gas
 
a battle forever of fact and of fiction
in a place some call "Greasy Grass".
©Steve Dirksen