Ohrmann Museum & Gallery
 

Invaders

It was the country I loved,
and they came over the hills
at daybreak.
               Their armor
hoisted a dirty flay to the dawn,
the cold air
glittered with harsh commands.

Up and down the roads of Alaska,
the clanging bootsoles,
the steely clatter of wheels,

treading down forests, bruising
the snows—
               bringing
the blossom of an angry sundown,

their cannon and blue flares
pumping fear into the night.

                 John Haines