Statistic

[Here is my extra poem for Wednesday for extra credit!  Enjoy!]

I can hear the battle raging up ahead

Flashes of my life…
Will I soon be dead?

I tilt my head back and sniff the air
The suffocating stench of smoke and gunpowder…

I can see the lifeless strewn everywhere

I have never felt anything such as this fear

As the caravan draws closer…

Down my cheek rolls a single tear

Our commander suddenly yells, “GO GO GO!”

We all jump out of the truck without a single thought…

And begin our rapid trudge through the red snow

Bodies and blood all over the ground

To think I would be in the midst of this hell…

Away from my home where I was safe and sound

My ears ring with the crack of each exploding shell, one after another

Gunfire followed by piercing screams of pain…

Along with the unanswered cries for mother

A Tango approaches and our commander bellows, “FIRE!”

Raising my weapon, I pull the trigger on instinct…

And watch my target quickly expire

Just like that, without thinking, I had taken a life

I am no killer, but wait!  Tango is still moving…

I rush forward and puncture their heart with my knife   

Turning my head with blood on my face, a bullet grazes my cheek

Tangos have me in their sights…

I feel so helpless, so meek

Another ballistic ricochets off my metal hat

I begin to sprint…

Frantically dodging this way and that,

 Desperately searching for cover as the shots blaze by

A projectile finally finds its way into my gut’s flesh…

I am barely a man, much too young to die

I begin to panic and lose my head

I am no different from any of them…

Soon I too will be dead

 One last sliver of lead to my chest and I fall to one knee

I am nothing…

Just another frozen face no one will ever see

Looking down I see the growing stain of my own blood

This is it...

My grave will be here upon this patch of snow and mud

The sounds of gunfire and shouted commands begin to fade

I fall onto my side…

And there my body stayed

My mind and muscles begin to slack

As I watch the vapors from my last breath escape…

Everything goes black