The Forgotten

The Forgotten

Long since the war to end all wars and now a war of conquest to conquer or be conquered by terror.

Trained to kill and live as brother soldiers to protect our ways, land and lives.

To the lands of sand, dust, and heat we go. To the un-conquerable lands of Iraq and Afghanistan we go.

Amongst our brothers, our heroes in life not death, but forgotten by the people of our lands who know not pity and the pity of war.

In endless battle we lie hidden from sight and news. Perhaps we should hope for the deadly flu so we may become news and be known.

Our guns lie in wait as the wind howls and the sandstorm hides all. Voices and cries of battle in a foreign tongue. Gunshots carried on the wind. We open fire to kill the menace on the wind. Cries of pain cut through the veil of the sandstorm then silence on the wind.

Emerging from the storm a figure, a man ..., no, a woman ..., no, a child !!, hold your fire … too late the blast hits us and down we go. Lain in the blood soaked sand, my brothers lay around me as corpses. Rosy faces turned to grey, hollow eyes that embrace death, and curled fingers with clasped hands not seen since their Mothers wombs. I didn’t want them to lay in the corner of a foreign field that is forever England or for time not to weary them. I didn’t want them to be etched in stone in a parody of the Menin Gate or to receive the medals of Valour, I just want to bring them back.

This dismembered child, this little warrior of death who took my pals from me does not even seek to sit on the right hand side of Odin in the halls of Valhalla and fight forever alongside Thor. She seeks a paradise of peace to match the greatest irony of any Preacher. Will she take my pals along with her to dine on milk and honey for Eternity ?

And what of the bereaved, the children too young to understand and the elder ones who understand the empty Birthdays and Christmases. Of the wives given their most dearest. Of the parents whose hearts will dwell in endless pain for the loss of a child.

News headlines of a politician gone wrong, a bank gone bust and seconds of news for the fallen missed whilst making a cuppa.

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