Harvest of Death

(Civil War Photography by T. O’Sullivan, 1866) Raisin-black blood dries on their faces. Thick wool clothes. Lumps of bloated bodies lying on their backs. Mouths open. Chins pointing to the sky. As though blown over backward. Or turned. Fingers swollen. Boots and rifles missing. Coats and jackets pulled up exposing gray shirts, bloody underwear. The sky drifts toward sap green. No fences. No stone walls.