Noel K Fletcher

Sand and heat and dust and sweat
White hot sun scorches from a copper sky
Weapons loaded, armour fixed… and yet
Will it be me? I don’t want to die.

Approaching car crawls through the road block
Windscreen cracked, it’s a wreck on wheels
Thumping explosion, I fly with the shock
Of blast and debris, land in a field

All is numb, no feeling, no sound
I taste grit, feel weak, then hear a shout
“Medic – he’s down here on the ground!”
“Don’t move mate, you’re OK – soon have you out”.

My face is scorching in the sun, my helmet gone
Cool water on my lips, a sharp stab in the arm
Sand and sun and sound become as one
This is it for me “I’ve bought the farm”.

Blazing heat and sweat and dust now in the past
Camo’ clad medics with headphones tend me
My mates, still there, survived the blast
I sleep with the vision just a memory.

Awakened by the hoot of owl, I’m cold.
White clad nurses and a crisp white sheet
A tented bed, my body aches. Am I old?
I reach down but can’t find my feet.

The cool, green gentle swaying trees
Lowing cows, a horse that whinnies
Fight back those vicious memories
Is this how it was meant to finish?

Long gone are sun and filth and sand
Reality dawns as the facts unfurled
My new legs arrive and I try to stand
Green is the colour of my brave new world