I Am Saved
Location
I have seen things in war, child
p l e a s e all long and
strangely broken in the middle
M o m m a
the same
I used to wonder if we all die like children
but I saw a child die once
from a shell
teary wet and snot-faced
I saw him die
looking at me
not that I killed him
but
I was there so we just
gazed for a second
soft blue eyes same color shirt
dirty
crying words maybe
German mother!
I saw him die I remember
spray of rocks and dirt
blood too
but I don’t remember the sound
Some men die quiet some loud
soft dying just oh
candle flutters out
soft dying by bomb
no time to scream
but the eyes
such things I have seen
loud dying by pain
bloody guts and brain and quick amputate
begging
stream of names
moaning cuss
prayers forgotten
but it
doesn’t seem to do
the trick
so instead
MOMMA
MOMMA
Momma
m o m m a
you don’t know what pain does
to the eyes
--fear’s worse
but you know when
there’s no more fear you know
there’s no more
screaming
I don’t
hear
them
but
such things I have seen
child