Beyond All Illusion

 

 

1.

 

     I’m losing friends

Friends that once walked the same

Pace as I,

Walked the same path –

Banged out the same sand

From worn - down boots.

 

     I’m losing friends

Who once stood against

Bombs and bullets,

     But they’re dying slow

Deaths and sudden,

Attacks to the heart –

And bracketing;

Deceased comrades

Come closer to claiming my own.

 

2.

 

     Closer,

Is my will against

Surreptitious power as

They’re changing statements

Of truth, bringing false accusation

By facts full of lies as

     Operation Granby –

Still reaps a count

Of those served in faith,

Still takes by stealth

The health of the veteran,

Replacing our years

With suffering and pain.

 

3.

 

     I’m limping my walk

With a hunch for the lame;

‘that many are gone,’

Gone quietly to grieve

The years that they gave,

And still the boots walk –

None giving way to fatigue

As this strange malady

Sends each victim insane.

 

     Walking lame to a funeral;

I’m stood ill at ease teasing my death,

Yet here we all are solemn

And sad as another

Has passed and crying, –

The child shouts for daddy,

But it’s another one less,

     One less soldier of spirit,

While continuing still

Are the battles of bravery

For a billion pound industry,

Where the child’s quietly hidden

From view, –

Just a pause for our conscience

     And my boots are still walking,

Walking the lives never owned,

Upwards,

     Onwards,

          Backwards,

               Forwards,

Till my tears no longer cry sorrow,

Thankful for knowing those now

Deceased,

     Who served in all honesty

At each - others side

And it’s a world full of peace

I wish every man down,

Far away from this Earth full of harm.

 

Michael J Waite 27^th August 2012.