but as soldiers clamber over hill
and rugged blasted terrain
huddled whenever possible
to feel their living flesh –
For all, but the very few to remain
were lost
lying deep,
entrenched
upon a blood-drenched and squalid soil
My heart a mess, my mind ever vigil,
but terribly confused
I knew my time was all but up
and yet with these I had a one last goodbye
before an impending dawn of more,
much more of the same.
What horrid, horrible landscape I see,
no grass of green no more.
And whence one is able – the mud,
the stench lay here above our throat
to inhale the messiness and confusion of war.
No-one knows whoever will be next,
but pray it be another.
And yet in that horrible, fearful way
think more about the ones at home
than here among each other.
God give us back our life
as before
the thrill, the pang has gone
the future now is what I seek
without this squalor of war.
May 25th, 2011
Tags: Songs of Sorrow
