Death's Sedition
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Stephanie Powell, Grade 10, Nunawading Christian College
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Poetry
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2015
Excellence Award in the 'Read Write Repeat 2015' competition
A man lies mutely, staring up in slack-jawed insensibility
His cold, lifeless fingers still clutching his gun valiantly.
Soldier to the end, undaunted by the threat to his mortality.
His desperate need to survive has murdered his humanity.
A man stares uncomprehendingly, eyes demure and coy.
His gaze fixed on his hand in a disturbing parody of joy.
Red-stained fingers clutching a photo of a girl and a boy.
He lies alone on a hill crowded with limp, once-human toys.
A man cries silently as he sinks into oblivion.
He grieves the plans that couldn’t come into fruition.
He mourns the life that ended with this ill-begotten mission.
His wife is left abandoned as he falls to Death’s sedition.
A man kneels hopelessly, drowning in his mistakes.
His mind clouds with anguish, his heart begins to ache.
The trust of the soldiers around him had surely been misplaced.
He doesn’t know what to do, but consequences must be faced.