War Poem

Old man stalks
uniformed in pride
long vision
cordite piercing stare
hard-grim face and mouth
"love" tattooed on one hand
"hate" upon the other
remembering...
fear and exultation
groaning German ships
torpedo sunk
enemy drowning with no faces
death runs deep in angry seas
remembering...
silent jungle night-raids
Jap ammo-dumps with guards
quiet knife slicing startled throats
death creeps on silent toes
life draining away
like blood on his blade
then incendiaries
planted - wired to blow
orange-red mushrooms in the night
remembering...
spoils of war
silver-plated Jap officer's sword
stripped from his dead corpse
a pair of brass lamps
gorgeous lamp shades
made of tattooed human skin
light glows through
a Marine Globe
a simple black sheath
womb for his special knife
still black-caked with Jap blood
remembering...
standing on his ship's bridge
screaming whine building higher
kamikaze suicide plane coming in
Imperial Wind gusting now
impact deafening explosion
fireball - smoke - screams
as his ship goes down
one more broken mother
spawning lifeboats
on South Pacific seas
remembering...
old man walks
uniformed show of pride
long and distant vision
cordite piercing stare
eyes brim - tears
tough-grim face and mouth
iron hard gauntlet of hate
shielding his trembling fist
of love.
Warrior by Ted L Glines @FamilyFriendPoems

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