NEVER LEAVE THAT PLACE

• Katrina-Jayne Culling, Grade 12
• Poetry
• 2013

As we strode off to our transport, we could hear our families cry,
“Why are you being so arrogant? You probably won’t come back alive.”
“You are being so naive and childish, why don’t you understand?
You’re gonna leave them with no father, and me with no man.”
As the truck pulled away, I shed a tear of sorrow,
I looked around and saw a youth, and wondered if he’d still be here on the morrow.
We were taught to love our weapons, and the fight and danger too,
But we could handle it, because we were soldiers through and through.
Four years I survived there, when my mates had perished and died,
I mourned for those who we had lost, but I’m so thankful I’m alive.
I lost a leg and a hand, and I know that’s not the same,
I know we accused the enemy, but they are not the ones to blame.
Everyone lost a part of themselves, the day the war began,
Nothing was set in concrete, and we had no backup plan.
You see war knows no boundaries, not gender, religion or race,
And if you ever went to war, you can never leave that place.