Awakening to meet this very day
Emotions uncontrolable, searching for words to say
To offer you some type of support
we can try to delay, but in the end I must report
...
Have I Really Left?
Have I really left?
The call that cannot be denied
For the soldier’s courage to be verified
Time to leave the life he has come to adore
To carry on the footsteps of those who’ve come before
Now he places his boots onto unknown land
For this is his calling, maybe even his last stand
Along with his brothers in arms
They walk fearlessly to seek men who cause others harm
Decisively they roam the streets
Constantly worn down by the desert’s heat
Suddenly startled by an all too familiar sound
All at once their hearts begin to pound
The distractions of the city begin to subside
As their training is to what they choose to confide
The bullets begin to fall like rain
Hell has brought is fury, and is choosing to remain
Time has done all but stand still
They hunker for cover, observing through a broken window sill
The enemy continues their bloodthirsty assault
Finally they are tiring, beginning to show fault
The tide slowly begins to turn
As hot shell casing hit their skin, leaving a lasting burn
With the enemy within his sight
The soldier is humbled by taking his life
He cannot allow sorrow to be felt
As he fires more rounds from his 240’s belt
Empty cartridges lay scattered across the ground
While the enemy’s bodies lay lifeless all around
The fog of war is so ever present
He thinks will ending a man’s life, will I ever resent?
Slowly the background begins to blacken
While he is left awestruck by what all has happened
Eventually his eyes begin to open
As he hears his wife’s word so softly spoken
In his bed, drenched in sweat
He is angered from remembering what he vowed to forget
He rises to his feet to look out the window
Staring aimlessly into the dark, his thoughts held in limbo
Slowly he returns to his slumber
With the re-occurrence of visions, he begins to wonder
Will his innocence always fall victim of a theft
Again asking himself, have I really left?
Benjamin Black