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Although I’ve served near thirty years,
Achieving rank high as can be.
I still remember first parade,
And sergeant starting feud with me.

We had shuffled on parade, in line.
Not yet taught to dress our ranks.
Each nervous with anticipation.
While sergeant, to the Lord gives thanks.

But now it’s time for first inspection.
Worried corporal standing nigh.
As sergeant moves on down our line,
Will he, won't he, pass me by?

In those days, all of fifteen years,
Five feet nine and very thin.
Cocky, full of verve and vim,
But not yet having shaved my chin.

So, sense my fright when this grown man
With medal ribbons from the War,
Intent it seems on finding fault
Stops, stoops, then gives a roar.

I freeze with horror, sudden shock.
The corporal runs up with his book.
“Do you see this?” screams sergeant's voice.
A hairy chin, come, take a look.

And this they do, heads close together.
Both now peering at my chin.
Take his name the Sergeant murmurs,
Thus, I'm noted down for sin.

Black book closes, Sergeant passes
And I think 'alright for some.’
But now he's shouting at another.
'Just you wait, I'll tell my mum!’
Surkhab Aug 7
The melody is yours now
I had begun to live for myself
I had begun to love myself
Until that moment
That one melody that hit right every time
A melody for the lonely nights
The nights I danced to it in those empty streets
As every lyric echoed from the radio
It filled the void inside those nights
It filled the void inside me
A melody for those heavy days
The days I roamed in those empty corridors
As every lyric echoed in this body
It took that burden off from those days
It took that burden off from this soul

But how could I dance the nights away ?
But how could I pass the days away ?
This universe created you as well
With a purpose of destruction
It’s funny how you will never know this purpose of yours
I put away this heart
I became a soldier
This soul became my nation
As I stood there alert
Protecting this fragile nation from your destruction
Memorandums were sent day and night in the kingdom
To warn it against you
Eyes were prohibited to the direction of your shadow
Feet were prohibited to the direction of your voice
Because your essence was enough to destroy this phoenix kingdom to ashes
And it happened
The guards were down
And the melody echoed through this body
The soul mocked me
That the melody now will carry the one you fond
May be I was not mocked
The soul sensed your presence
Which I couldn’t
The eyes were in your direction
It was not your shadow
But the destruction happened
As those eyes locked with mine
I could hear the kingdom burning
And I am not a brave soldier
As I did nothing to save my nation
I stood there burning in that fire
You turned me from a poet to a martyr
The melody which was once mine
Is yours now
You burned my kingdom
You took my melody
Do you even know how cruel you are ?
You do nothing
As I see you walk away
May be back to her again
With whom you share your kingdom
There must be no guards at your place
How could you ruin my thing then?
But you will never know
So how can I blame you ?
May be there is a connection
May be you will read these verses one day
Or it could be one night
Or they will become another tale in that diary
In the attic of that witch.


To Badr
Indika Perera Jul 27
i will **** you
not because i hate you
i don't know you
so how can i hate you
but i will **** you
'cos that was the order
and i have to obey it

i've killed many
at first it was hard
but not anymore
now it's easy
take aim, pull the trigger
it's that easy, so easy
i wish it wasn't
i wish it was hard

i **** yours and you **** mine
we are told to **** and we ****
that's the life of a soldier
that's the way it goes
we don't decide to ****
but we decide who dies
the enemy we shoot, dies
we shoot to ****

this is war, so we ****
i **** for my people
you **** for yours
i **** for my ideals
you **** for yours
who is right? who is wrong?
are we both right?
or are we both wrong?

does it even matter?
does it matter who is right?
does it matter who is wrong?
no, it doesn't matter
what's right to me
is wrong to you
what's right to you
is wrong to me

so we ****
'cos we can't decide
who's right and who's wrong
i **** some of yours
you **** some of mine
but some survive
some may survive
but all are wounded
vik Jun 30
i woke inside the trench.
my teeth were not my own.
my hand was gone, or chewed
in word i’d never known.

the war was soft and wet.
the skull had turned to chalk.
birds dropped like folded notes.
the siege forgot to talk.

she rode like wrath grown tall.
her helm was grief made gold.
no mercy in her path,
just silence, woe and cold.

the saints had kissed her lips.
their bones were in her hair.
the banner trailed behind,
stitched from a baby’s prayer.

she said:
stand. (i was.)
bleed. (i am.)
forget. (i have.)

they named her rust and sin.
they called her winterborn.
i called her sir. she knelt.
she cracked the siegehorns’ horn.

she fed the dying steeds.
she named them one by one.
she burnt all of their spines
beneath a rotting sun.

we drank the ink from flags.
we ate the borderlines.
we fed the crowns to crows
we wept in battle lines.

dull gape, like beryl stars,
spun like a compass dead.
she searched for Gods on fire,
who left the church in red.

our vows were carved in filth.
she wore a veil of teeth.
i wore the wound she gave
and nothing else beneath.
a love poem, oddly enough
Noor Feb 2015
Red
I stand inviaible in the road.
Frozen in place.
Frozen in thought.
I have misplaced all sounds.

Soldiers pull their bleeding brother out an RG-33 vehicle
in a flowing current of hands and fingers.
gentle, urgent
They hand him off to a swarm of medics then collapse into a grieving cloud of cigarette smoke

The pants and boots—especially the boots—are coated thick with blood
so fresh, so bright
My mind defrosts, gathers a voice to shatter the silence
What a beautiful color
Noor Mar 11
Who is the man weilding my gun
when time stops and holds its breath?
Cold hate runs in his veins—
steady, unflinching death.

Engines roar, radios chatter—
Silent! Vision, sharp and thin.
All existence is ending
the threat closing in.

Thumb pushes the safety—
click
Center mass. Steady. Hold breath.
Squeeze.

Who wore my skin?
Foe? Friend? Truly me?
Will I ever see him again—
Bold stranger, powerful-- fear free?
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