Smoke

Again I woke up one morning with this poem running through my head...It must have been a dream that i had...so here it is....

I don’t understand

Why man must hate,

Why wars we always create

Does taking another life ease the pain?

Does this child deserve to be killed and maimed?

We ignore the truth and close our eyes

Through are stupid ignorance and careless strife

Thunder rumbles across the city,

Canonized fire, mechanized infantry,

Bodies fall, hear them scream,

Their lives have been snuffed out by the war machine,

Through all the rubble see a lone soldier run

He kicks down the door he is a hold a gun

In the smoke he sees a figure in the corner

Without asking a question he shoots him in the shoulder

The victim falls, the soldier sees his face

His instincts were right, he belongs to another race

The fallen man struggles to his knees,

To save his life he begs and pleads,

He cries out to him and struggles to stand,

The soldier nods silently and lowers his hand

Just one question I want to ask,

What made you do this evil ask,

Why are your eyes the color red

Are they not stained with innocent blood shed

I don’t understand, I do not see

What cause has made us enemies?

My wife was killed before my eyes,

They beat her madly before she died

My only son tried to defend

But a dozen bullets was his end.

They were just like you the men who invaded

They destroyed my life and left me only hatred

They burnt my home, ignited everything flammable,

It was men like you that have turned me into an animal

I know your pain I’ve felt your hate,

But there’s a way to end it, it’s not too late,

There is so much confusion fighting one another

You never know, we could be brothers.

Enough of the this propaganda and cowardice lies,

My wife is dead I saw her die

It was people like you, your race, your breed,

Your blood is my vengeance you’ll pay for their deed

Can’t you see we are all the same?

The killing is pointless, this war insane

Will killing me bring back your wife?

Will killing others end the strife?

But my wife was innocent my son too,

Why should I forgive only you?

And now their bodies lie in the cold,

I can’t put down the anger I hold.

So who can I blame, who is to pay

What do I do, what to do I say

What would you do if you were in my place?

Take my gun, aim it at my face.

In the darkened light the solider knelt

Against his forehead cold metal he felt

The wounded man could now retaliate

He could kill quickly, and then escape

But he dropped the gun; let it slip from his grasp,

He collapsed to the floor the man’s shoulder he grasped

You lost your wife, he said in a whisper,

But that woman you loved, she was also my sister.