Hypnotic Eye

-Hypnotic Eye-
by Keaton Foster



Crazy as sin
There
He was
A man of life
Soon to be
Dead
I was by his side
Kneeling down
Holding
His cold hand
As his life
Spilled out wide
Both of us
Warriors
He
The enemy
Me
The victorious
At least
As far
As that battle went
Easily
I could have been him
And he
Could have been me
But
I was quicker
Upon the trigger
I saw him first
And
He saw nothing
I was sent
By those in charge
Trained to kill
To the enth degree
Then implemented
A copy of those before
And no doubt
A million more
Man has been
And will
Kill each other
For all of time
It was just war
A battle of wits
And I
Not him
On that particular day
Was presently winning
But
Of all the men
That I’ve ever killed
Him
That one
Would since remain
At the forefront
Of my expansive brain
One that I would take
From the battlefield
Back here to home
Deep
Into my skin and bones
As a true marksmen
Usually
I never missed
Center mass
If not
A headshot
Both
Clean and quick
Brutal and proficient
Death dealt
Always
With kind regard
Feelings
I sure did
And still do have them
Suppressing them
Was of course hell
For all of my life
I was taught
Thou shall not kill
Until one day
My superiors
Handed me a rifle
And ordered me
Kill as many them
As you can
The enemy of ours
Now belongs to you
So there I was
In some distant land
Ending lives
From
Impersonal distances
Heart or head
Quicker means
To the same
Brutal demise
But that one
Was very much different
He was not dead
Not yet
He was alive
Twitching inside
His body jerked
His fingers stiffened
His lips a solid blue
His mind
Matter displaced
There was a small hole
Right where
His right eye once was
The back of his head
Blown clean off
All that remained
Slightly recognizable
At best
But
His left eye
Was still there
Intact
Perfect in fact
It was
Looking up at me
Looking up at the sky
Following my motions
Staring through me
Now with
Very peaceful intentions
He was trying
To convey something
That I could not betray
Something
That I would take
Deep into my heart
Deeper into my soul
He wanted me to know
To truly understand
That what was done there
In that place
In this existence of killers
Was important
So important
That I had to believe
That was why he was
Somehow still holding on
Somehow alive
I began asking myself
Life is a one way thing
He will not survive
Or possibly could he
Certainly
His impending doom
Via my marksmen skills
Could not be ignored
By me or death
But
His hypnotic eye
The one
Following mine
Back and forth
Up and down
All around
His body still
His dark skin
The palest white
The ground all around
Stained red and pink
Then
His chest climbed once more
And he let out a brutal
Chain reaction
Of both life and death
Simultaneous
Relief and terror
His undamaged eye
Steadied one more time
Upon mine
Then he
The man that I shot
Was gone
Before that day
I would have said
Right to hell
But after that
After what was conveyed
In the time made
I must still admit
That I’m quite sure
That hell
Was the one place
That he was going
Least of all…


Hypnotic Eye
Written by Keaton Foster Copyright © 2014.