This poem is a bit different from what I usually talk about in my poetry, but I had a lot of fun writing it! I also like that this poem is very hopeful against its grim setting. Although I’ve never experienced war, it was very interesting to explore something foreign to me.
The dawn breaks
I get up again
Left on the side of some rotten trench
I wasn’t attacked by other men
Unscathed
I am dirty but wound-less
The fight the day before
Was disgusting and ruthless.
I get up to see my fellow men
Just as clueless as I
Simply wondering how in the world…?
We didn’t die?
Suddenly
I hear footsteps in the distance
The marching we knew all too well
We couldn’t do this.
I’m scared
I don’t want to fight another battle
It’s pointless
I’ll end up being eaten like cattle
But then I remember
What for,
Why I signed up for this.
It’s for the dream in the horizon
Past this obsidian abyss,
This hell.
Is it a hell that I enjoy?
To be fighting for a dream that I might not see,
That I might be condemned to a life full of sleep.
Is it worth it?
I’m a pawn on this chessboard
The players have their fires lit
not wielding a single sword.
But I don’t have that kind of luxury
I’ve got blood sweat and tears.
I cannot pay my way out of this war
to escape my own worst fears.
I then remember those on the ground
My collaterally-damaged friends
They dreamt of paradise
They told me,
Kid, you know nothing
And you’re dead-beat tired
But you’ve got something to fight for
Make that light your fire.
Keep fighting.
The war is gonna end soon
And the marching
Will become whispers of memories,
When you look up at the moon.
Regina Co 