Polly Come Home Fic by Jay Babel

Polly Come Home- Robert Plant and Alison Kraut

A Union soldier charges, fear penetrating him as a bayonet does the same. The heavy rain stings his face as it pelts the ground mercilessly. Falling to the mud beneath his feat in the trench by no man’s land, he desperately crawls to the green edge of the hill leading to a large patch of forest.

The Confederates simply sidestep him as he crawls, blinded by the panic and mayhem. The sounds of caterwaul and rain fade slightly as he crawls weakly but determinedly to the hill. He rolls down it, more roughly than he expected, and he slams into a pine on his side. Off to his left stand grim mountains, looming over the trees and the plains as though it were helpless in its destiny.

Mud clinging to his moustache and hair, the man clutches his bleeding side as a numbness spreads upon him. Streams of water tickle his cheeks, and he sees her as he is brought back to a memory from five years ago.

He lay there in his cabin bed, the rustic light streaming through his window pane illuminating the concerned face of his wife. The evening light glistened on her tears as the man’s temperature showed no sign of cooling off.

He gave her a reassuring smile, hoarsely telling her of how he could outlast sickness, even knowing how many did not. His large right hand wound around her thick fingers while his left caressed the tears sliding down her cheeks.

The man was lost in his mind, reality fading from view. The pine tree seeped small crystalline drops from where he lay, and one weary and bloodied arm reached up and brushed them with his calloused thumb. He felt her. Her warmth, her sweet soul, her presence. Nothing existed. Not the sounds of the war; Of brother killing brother. Not the whistling wind or ear-ringing shots of rifles.  Only her face.

When his heart stopped, when his arm fell limply to his side, when his breath ceased, life trudged on. The battle still raged. The blood still shed. The smoke of guns clung in the air persistently. And the mountain looked at it all, the same grim expression plastered on its mighty face.