DESERT INTERLUDE

 

desert interlude  .. 

Maureen Clifford ©  The #ScribblyBarkPoet

 

‘Did you ever imagine when we were just kids

that we both would be soldiers one day?

Did you ever believe that you really could shoot

someone dead and then just walk away?

Did you ever imagine that you’d leave Australia

to go fight on a far foreign shore?

Oh Mate!  Nor did I, but we have.  Here we are.

Tell me why won’t you talk like before?

 

I am just a bit scared John – are you scared as well?

There’s no reason to feel so ashamed.

It’s the noise.  Star shell flares lighting up the dark night –

like the whole bloody world is deranged.

There is shrapnel and shell, scattered stonework and sand

and it’s all falling out of the sky,

and the screaming and yells; seems to me like the bowels

of earth opened up as we walked by.

 

It’s so cold outside John; are you warm enough Mate?

Here’s a jacket I’m happy to share.

Tell me why won’t you answer me? What makes you look

at me John with that blank vacant stare?

Can you think of the tales that we’ll tell folks back home?

No more dull small-town stories for us,

we can tell of the battles, of how brave we were,

whilst around us our loved ones will fuss.’

 

And as dawn crept across the distant horizon

there was no Kookaburras' song heard.

But another bloke came, shaking him by the shoulder

saying something he thought quite absurd.

‘It is time to move on for your mate has now gone,

we must leave him behind now old son.

There’s a war to be fought and an enemy sought

and we’ve got the ragheads on the run.’

 

Now the parts of the puzzle all fell into place

and he knew now why John hadn’t spoke.

His emotions corroded like rust turned to dust

as his heart mourned a mighty good bloke.

Soft he touched his mates face, and those staring eyes closed

and of feelings he now had a dearth.

As the desert wind whispered, he heard kestrels cry

and the sound was sad souls leaving earth.

 

So, he stood for a minute and said his goodbye

and he heard on the wind like a soft angel’s sigh;

Did you ever imagine that you’d leave Australia

and fight?  Well Pete neither did I.

It is time to move on for now God is the one

who is holding my hand oh so tight.

I see other blokes there and their faces I know.

There is nothing to fear Pete – she’s right.

 

 

Received a HC in Boyup Brook 2013