A SOLDIER’S VOICE NOBODY HEARS
Three sides, many sides, define a war,
Knife blades, automated greed and hate,
You-enemy, me-liberator, money-greed
disposable corpses hidden outside cemeteries,
hearts of invisible iron,
evil wills.
Masked sides,
words stitched with poison
territories without borders
of darkness, neither black nor white,
blood has unthinkable faces,
all’s against my innocent will.
Hell’s wind brought me here
my nerves broke down
words give no shelter
mutilated corpses arise
out of nowhere
numbness spreads along my arms and mind
questions rising darker than the darkness
to die for my country is an honor,
but how can the price of petrol pay for my blood?
If I could control my fate, my anger,
like a voice arising from a silent wood,
clear my thoughts, from these walls of hate,
Can I open wide a door onto the light
for a moment, the world’s and life’s illnesses
can I forget?
Should I stay in the city
of dead and wounded corpses
or should I allow rays of sunshine
into my mind for healing?
I see the unthinkable,
love enters through a gate
of present-future
breathing forgiveness,
courage, hope
To bury our dead,
to cry, to heal
the present,
our soul.
© Roula Pollard
