Waiting For The End

• Amani K, Grade 9
• Poetry
• 2011

There he lay in the dreaded trench, thinking about his home
There he lay in the dreaded trench, feeling nothing but alone

For years he’s been trapped inside this war, dreaming about the end
For years he’s hoped he could shut this door, and never open it again

Such a great waste of time dreaming, of something that wasn’t real
All this time his hope was gleaming, now all seems so surreal

He left behind his wishes and dreams, who he was, everything he could be
All for this lonely place that seems, everything except misery

He left it all for this place of hate, this place of loss and death
With nothing to do but sit and wait, in complete and sheer distress

For the next name put on the death list, for the next burial that very day
For the next family who had just wished, for the next life which was taken away

The poisonous gas creeping through his lungs, the cries, the begging and the painful screams
Are more miserable than any song sung, his mind and body will never be free

Feeling the walls closing up around him, shooting and fighting, this useless hate
He feels as though life has been all sin, this game has ended, no more wait