In His Heart Poem by Gert Strydom

In his heart,
his mind,
he had never been a soldier,
he found killing offensive
but to carry on living
he was forced into it

and would have preferred to be left alone,
not to be part of the bloodshed,
to pray to his God,
to live a righteous life,
but he was extremely good
as soldiers go

forced to be deceitful to himself,
making the best
in a world where there was no possibility
of anything grey
and everything was drawn
as in pencil
in black and white.

© Gert Strydom