I awaken from a half-slumber,
a restless night of tossing & turning,
not breathing & splitting headaches.
A frozen mist coats
the inside walls
of my humble nylon-abode
& as I unzip the fly,
to greet the subtle warmth
of the radiant sun
on my stubble-face,
to see the curvature of the earth
swallowing the stars,
I realize,
I realize why I do this,
attempt to sleep
here,
on mountaintops.

At an early age I was trained to ****
To enjoy the moment enjoy the thrill
When the 7.62 found the mark
And ripped apart another's life
Getting high on cordite smoke
Turning the moment into another joke
Dipping fingers in the blood
That from my victim on the ground had spread
To glorify in his death
Then deprive another of his breath
With another one through his lungs
Wow killing can be so much fun
Do I care that their families weep
No they were just a bunch of creeps
And I'll **** some more if I get the chance
Then walk away without a backwards glance

BUT

No it never was like that
Because you become enmired in the crap
You **** yourself and your stomach heaves
From the stench of blood and ****
Carried on the breeze
No thrills no fun no stupid jokes
Just ****** pants and sweat and trembling limbs
No glory in the site of blood
Turning sandy ground into puddled mud
The stink of gunsmoke in your throat
It could have been me
Not the other bloke

INSANITY-one persons interpretation of another persons state of mind

So far these weekly challenges have turned up some truly inspirational works one of which achieved DP status and I would like to thank every single person who has contributed.

This time the challenge is going to be somewhat different in that instead of producing a great poem at short notice I'm allowing one week and please poets do not post before next Friday.

This time four words have to be incorporated into your piece, words you are already familiar with

Leaves...Magic... Tranquility... Freedom..

Oh yes, a maximum of twenty lines and a minimum of ten lines just to make things more interesting

I have some followers who have never posted a poem
Perhaps they're just people who enjoy reading poetry
But maybe they are just nervous about showing their work
Anyway here's how I view it
An artist makes a charcoal or pencil sketch
Once it looks right they start adding color
A photographer frames the subject and once its right
Takes the photograph
So start by writing a short stanza and then play with the words
You just might surprise yourselves