I'm a boy, young healthy, fit for fighting they say
Send me away, i lay watching the stars, drawing pictures with them in my mind's eye
I stare at the moon, and reflect about my betrothed, I’ll make a good husband one day
An invisible string binds us when we both stare at her, hanging in the summer evening sky
I'm a boy, i should not be here! Glance across and see a man 15 years my senior who has my worldly experience twice plus 1 more year, the fear in his eyes as he gazes silently at an old family portrait tells me all is not well
We walk, the soles of these boots not made for this journey, nor were my legs
Through villages and towns, open fields and forests, women and children stare silently ... where are all the men ?
I'm hungry, given my ration and told make it last, my feet blistered and eyes sore, the anticipation just as exhausting as the treck
Rain, she falls fast, rolls down my helmet and hangs a second to greet me before dripping onto my nose and rolling onto my tongue, she is not rationed yet.
My clothes damp but we must proceed, the song of 280 marching boots in synchronised harmony dance with purpose
A rifle rests over my shoulder, the widow maker, so destructive but yet she feels no remorse
Onto the field we arrive, it's all gone well up to now, the sun awakens, birdsong settles in the open valley, butterflies hover amongst the flowers, gently kissing them goodbye whilst a city of beetles play neath the giant blades of grass that falter beneath our footprint
And from the tranquillity BANG, a single bullet propelled from a stream just north of us charges forth with a single purpose.
One returned by 500 then 500 more, men standing, men fell, the butterflies danced away, the beetles retreat, their homeland desecrated by craters and shells, we can no longer hear the birdsong in the valley
I rise like the sun, pushing myself up to gain position, I’m up, I’m numb, she found me! Everything is white but i know not what’s happening
I stare hard at the men whose feet danced with mine, they're further away than before, their mouths open but not a sound emerges
BANG again, I’m falling, my arms aren't working, my legs fail me, it's colder now
The clouds part and the sun finds me, she strokes this fallen soldier upon his cheek, her warmth is a comfort in the chaos that surrounds me
My head finds its resting place amongst a puddle, i hear the faint sound of water as it creeps into my ear and watch paralysed as the water becomes a beautiful blend of brown and crimson
The sound is fading, a numbness runs from the tip of my toes, and i trace it as it finds passage through my fallen body, it reaches my eyes, my eyes close
I can no longer move, the world is black, and I’m gone .....i was only a boy
