128 MINUTES (THE LAST STAND)

The gunshots made us forget we were soldiers
It made us forget our oath, to defend at all times
And to serve selflessly, for we serve now selfishly
Begging for our blood to stay with us till dawn
And the thoughts of our families evades our purpose
Giving us more and more reasons why we must survive
We ran so fast, that our feet could hardly catch up
We searched for a hide out, yet safety dodged from us
But under the bushes we layed, with hay as our cover
We held on to faith, praying for our selfish motives

We prayed for survival, to see our families again
To hold our children and tell them bedtime stories
To see our wives and love them like we never left

For a moment, we could feel the kindness of silence
And taking our stand in tears, we knew it was all over
We hugged in tears, with decors of smiles on our faces
Alas! Our joy escaped without our questions answered

Bark! Bark! Bark!
The search dog came running after us
For a while we stood flummoxed at his survival
He was stolen by the enemies before the war
So where did he come from?  How did he find us?

‘Oh, shut up you silly dog’, you’d get us all killed

Then we saw the blinking red light, then we could hear the tick

‘It looks like a trap, a bomb’; someone screamed

We scampered for our lives, but we were late, too late
He was close already, close enough that we had to accept death

Boom!!! he went off before we found safety

On the floor we lay, wrestling with our spirits for a second chance
We held our hands together, as we sang the team song for the last time
Hoping that our last cry, will uphold the victory we were fighting for…

By Ruth Brodrick. All rights reserved ©. This prose poem should not be shared or used without the author’s permission.