Napoleon returned to power in 1815,

And hoped to slip into Belgium sight unseen,

But he didn’t reckon on the 7th coalition,

Which set about his swift demolition.

Bonaparte wanted to prove his derring-do,

But he got outwitted,  defeated at Waterloo,

By an army under Wellington’s command,

With Gebhard von Blücher at his right hand.

Napoleon delayed giving battle till just before noon,

And that was on the 18th of June,

A three-day campaign balanced on the edge of a knife,

“The nearest run thing you ever saw in your life.”*

28,000 men were wounded or died,

Before Napoleon saw his advantages slide.

Wellington drove him in disarray from the field,

And Bonaparte had no other choice but to yield.

Napoleon soon found himself routed, alone,

And Louis XVIII restored to the throne.

Despite all the odds, the Allies had won,

Boney was exiled and died, 1821.

*So said Wellington about the battle.