Battlefield

The last time I was home feels like an eternity ago.
I wonder if my wife and children still love me.
Do they even remember my face?
Will I ever see them again?

For nearly a year we’ve waged war.
At times I feel like I don’t even know what for.
Squabbles over government, weapons, power, fear, nowadays it all feels the same.
Some say we do it for our country.
Sadly her habit of injustice makes me question whether patriotism is worth losing my life.

A good night of slumber interrupted by a boom.
Another bomb, if only God would intervene and end this war.
Upon reaching the site of the explosion I’m greeted by bullets flying overhead.
It isn’t the combat that lingers in my mind however; it’s the carnage that follows.
We manage to drive away the enemy, but the scene around us will torment me until I die.

A village once thriving and exuberant, now a ghosttown in more ways than one.
Our captain yells to check for any survivors.
Tearing apart the rubble, I find all of them dead.
One is lying in a pool of blood; he looks just like my son.
Tears flood my eyes as I stand in the hell called battlefield.