💾 Archived View for gemini.hackers.town › Wetdryvac › poetry › 00382_Ballad_After_The_Jungle.txt captured on 2023-01-29 at 03:42:48.
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A Poetry tDrop
by Wetdryvac
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Ballad After The Jungle
July 23, 1992
I am frightened of the pictures in my mind
they reek of death and destruction impossible to avoid
and I go walking where the angels fear to tremble
and I ��m all laced up and battened down
ready for the firestorm
I carry a gun
mint new carbine machine to kill with
and the other guys can ��t look my smile in the face
cheer red dawn ��s rise at two AM
pain the forest ��s bloody red, my gun a burlesque
and most everyone died in the firestorm but me
though I kept right on painting
it was children
swear, god, I didn ��t know
how could I flicker comprehend
I follow orders, orders I swear it
it came from my own side too, what can I say
I died almost like all the rest
just haven ��t had body to figure out yet
I couldn ��t let go the trigger
and wherever I danced they flew apart
and the screamed, I dream it over again, and over
oh, and what the hell have I done
some of them too were burning
I smell them, I can smell them even now
post traumatic, and distress �� disorder of the psyche
I ask �� who can come out of that false dawn with full mind
I get the shakes just thinking
of an enemy I miss �� and a village of no enemies
for what!
what were we doing, error
some grid misremembered
and the madness comes and goes
I wore a vest of metal plates, decked tightly in grenades
and I had some flares to light the killing ground
and I had been told of the powerful rush
young god and blush and this illusion
and the iteration of should have knowns
what can I scream ��
I saw them well before they flew apart
and kept right on killing, painted them like all the rest
and some of them were burning well before I shot them down
and some of them just sat there crying
and some were children and some were �� and ��
what differences we make, assigning value
guilty by location �� I killed them all
got to be a patriot, boy
go kill for your country, go kill for your god
we can have a jolly old time, later some smokes and a laugh
did you see, some choked on their blood
and that ��s the funny thing �� blood for their free country
our free country never the less
and we raised our flag over their burning houses
stars and stripes forever man
red for the blood, white for the bone
blue for the empty infinity sewn
and I think of my country ��s honor
my country and it ��s honor can take itself to hell
I ��ve finished killing, but for this one last son
and maybe when it ��s done I ��ll feel better
and I come home
they raise me my flag and I spit
unnoticed, who cares anyway
pinned a medal through my heart
last of my battalion left alive
god be damned to them
the only medal I want is small and bronzed
driven from my gun
and I think I ��ll put it in my brain
let the burning children ��s memories flow away
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With thanks to the good folks at Hackers.Town for answering the very
n00best of questions, with the following people politely [REDACTED].
May your time go in a manner you consent to.
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IRC [REDACTED]
Poetry, Short Form, With Contact https://writing.exchange/@wetdryvac
Poetry, Long Form, With Contact https://landofkittens.social/Wetdryvac
Web https://www.wetdryvac.net
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Links https://linktr.ee/wetdryvac
MATRIX [REDACTED]
BBS [REDACTED]
Primary mastodon residence, With Contact https://hackers.town/@Wetdryvac
All the other coms access points [REDACTED]
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