DEAD MEN FIGHTING WARS

I've lived through a war on the wrong side of the gun and this is me putting myself in the shoes of a soldier - a confused one it seems -

DEAD MEN FIGHTING WARS

I’ve left home only three weeks ago,
Together with my two best friends,
Little did we know,
That I’d be the only one left,
On this blood soaked
Corpse ridden theater of war,
Where bullets take the centre stage,
Where Satan knocks on the door,
To take the bodies of the fallen,
Their sins cannot be ignored.

Whose war is this?
What am I fighting for?
I’ve done away with my old self,
Stored memories high up on a shelf.
I don’t know if I’ll ever return home,
Or occupy a six feet deep hole.
This is not my place to die!
It’s too early to give my goodbyes.
Fighting a war someone else started,
I refuse to join the dearly departed.

Five thousand and counting,
That’s what the death toll reads,
Human lives sowed like death’s seeds.
I will not become just another number,
This world is built on endless wars,
But for what reason, no one knows.
With that said,
I leave this battle on my own terms,
Swallow the gun and scatter my head,
Either way, I would have been dead.

Author's Note

Runner up in the following contest:
http://www.writerscafe.org/contests/Grit/11824/

Reviews

[Crowley]

Damn...this feels so real to me. Nice glimpse into the heart and mind of someone forced into a tough situation. Trying to grasp for straws at the reason for a war when yuou are in the trenchs has to be maddening. Watching those die around you for the reasons that can never be settled on a battlefield to begin with. Strong write here my friend. Very nice.

[Neva Flores Smith - Cha..]

Such an ending............so sad. All war is so sad.

[Awdures]

War, what a waste of life, when it's the people in suits who start sending out young people to clean their messes. You've really gotten into the head of a soldier here and to do it so honestly and ending with a bang so to speak, is a brave but sadly true representation.

War in any form makes me angry. Having friends serving in Afghanistan at the moment and being relieved just to hear their weekend voices I can empathise completely. Unfortunately man will never stop warring as man always craves power and unfortunately the only way our "intelligent" civilisation has found of showing who wears the largest underpants is by killing as many of the little people as possible. I think you can tell it makes me angry!

Back to the poem, I loved the line "human lives sowed like death's seeds" but I'm sure it should have been "sown"? I'm grimacing whilst reading that because I'm not usually a grammar pundit! I just enjoy your work and don't want anything to detract from it. Genius.

[Chloe..Across the Unive..]

This is a heartbreaking poem , reading it today makes it more so...
Very good writing .. war is such a horror .. America in two of them still...
Leaving the battle on one's own terms would be that ones decision.. it did surprise me in the end...
Very well written on this horror so many go to and face each day.

Chloe

[Cassiopia Summers]

....I cannot describe to you in the way this poem touches me, maybe you'd understand, maybe you wouldn't, but I wish I could write this...this passionately about something I feel so strongly about. The services, war, things I frequently ask myself about...

Thank you.

[Brian]

War is perhaps one of the dumbest things humankind can think of, or commit. I hope everyday that all these wars will stop and that we will get along. This was a very good write, hopefully the war will end soon, and no more lives taken away.

[Linda Marie Van Tassell]

All war is an atrocity; and in war, there are no unwounded soldiers. Your poem captures this truth very well. To end it with suicide was quite unexpected, but the last line is like a bullet to the core. The stark reality of staring death in the face and of being unafraid ... I don't think one can be any more real than that, which comes full circle with your title for the poem. I guess one can't be afraid of death when he feels as if he is already a dead man fighting anyway.

I'm sorry that you had to leave your homeland due to the civil war. The lives lost, the hundreds of thousand displaced, and the crimes committed are all unimaginable. There is no way to paint a pretty picture of war.

Linda Marie Van Tassell

[Hollow Man]

The confusion and emotion give you a great voice here. Last line sticks with me. Great stuff. Love to see you play with a little less rhyme and drive the meaning down our throats

[c.m.]

Oh sweet Lord...this is so very sad, I will admit that I teared up a bit. The ending is extremely sad, but so climactic...like it shouldn't be the end, but it has to be. I doubt I'm making sense to anyone but me lol. But either way, nice write.