The Return Poem by Shirani Rajapakse

Where did you come from soldier,
what did you leave behind? Why are you

here standing in the shadows afraid to come out
into the sun shining bright on all who pass?

Do you see the dead rising, do you
count the number

of times you blinked as your gun
went off, do you remember the flash as the

beast hammered bullets into you?
The fire burnt in your

breast but the fire to cleanse you cannot
be made. There’s no one there to build a pyre.

You lie rotting in the sun, open
to the skies where the wild beasts

feast on you. Why are you here soldier
looking lost in this piece of concrete jungle where

the masses walk by indifferent to you
standing there, a silhouette

in the shadows? They move to the beat of freedom
that you and your friends died to protect yet

no one cares anymore. They have moved
on with their lives. What party do they attend what

clothes do they buy, what’s for dinner today or do they
eat out? They grumble to themselves while

you linger there wondering why.
Did you come back soldier to pray for the life

departed that once was yours? To build a fire here
in the city singlehanded and turn yourself

to flecks of dust that none chose to do? They
left you there

in the wilderness with the rest, fallen rotting waiting
for the animals to gorge. Nothing more

than old bones lying beneath
the trees. Shading you for now, but tomorrow no

more. The dust will settle covering you in a soft blanket
hiding you forever. But why are you still here?