There he stands; this broken down man,
His body tired and weak as his feet pierce the sand,
Ten thousand miles from happiness and safety,
As he cries from the top of his lungs; god please save me.
The agony of this chosen life has struck him hard,
There’s nowhere left to run and it’s already going dark,
Can he survive another night in this desert?
A part of him feels like giving up and saying forget it.
It’s been another day of nothing but bloodshed,
He gave all he could until he had nothing else left,
But maybe tomorrow things will be different,
As he listens to the sound of the mortars in the distance.
The intense heat of the morning sun strikes his forehead,
As he pinches his skin so tightly to confirm he’s not yet dead,
It’s time to start moving and escape from this living hell,
Will he make it out of here alive, only time will tell.
He has walked for hours and hours and still he’s no closer,
All he wants is to be with his beautiful wife and hold onto her,
There she is, he can see her standing at the bottom of the sand dune,
As he starts running towards her he can’t believe he’s going to see her again so soon.
He makes it safely down to the bottom,
Arms open wide; he thought he’d been forgotten,
And that’s when the intense pain hit him in his tracks,
As he falls to the ground, what was that?
Nothing is clear to him anymore, his eyes are blinkered,
The bullet has just struck him, as he lay there injured,
He watches as the blood drains from his body,
Wondering what will people think of me?
He pulls out a small picture and kisses his wife goodbye,
He holds it so tightly as he looks up to the dark sky,
As he slips away knowing his time here on earth is over,
He still feels proud to have lived the life of a ‘soldier’.
copyright 2009 ben burgess all rights reserved.