For my own, in the sight of war.

Free verse poem
For my own, in the sight of war.
 
 
Do I sit and watch? Bow my head and fear?
Death!
Blood trickles across a dying man’s face, cooling as it falls.
The screams! Horrible screams!
Child stares about, her arms quivering, face appearing as if she had only been scolded.
This pile of stone, my lord’s home.
Random gunfire clatters. And the screams!
A woman lay dead - feet from her own door. Burnt, smoldered; undeserved.
Senses forced to smell. Permeates! Penetrates!
My lips taste of salt and iron.
My skin feels peeled and torn.
My body covered by fluidic dirt.
My soul is anguish; torn and forsaken.
Do I sit and watch?
Death!
Bow my head and fear?
Death!
The call to arms now cries.
Our home, our lives at stake.
We’ve lost our own but won this battle.
Shall we return the visit upon them?
I do not want to die.
Mind racing in time, faster than thought.
No! They will not beat down. My family is dead!
And they will die two deaths. Mine and my own with me will see their end.
I will show them the visions I’ve seen. I will introduce them to those lost here.
My promised says to me “Do not go for you may die!”
Yes, I fear it in my own foundation, going forth.
And if I die it will not be for nothing.
But if I live it will be for everything.
 
 
Kactus Berry