'Till Death Do Us Part

• Ariana Bourke, Grade 10, William Ross State High School -
• Poetry
• 2018

Excellence Award in the 'Write Along 2018' competition

To say that war's grave is a pun I don't intend
They told us we'd return men, but have we to return at all?
Bullet-ridden and broken - wounds that pride can't mend
If we've to return, it'll be as corpses, when death befalls

There is no fun and games as there was when we were young
When prospect of playing soldier was much more noble
Where fallen men weren't your surroundings; living, but a gamble
Not knowing if you'll even make it through the night

War is knowing you're expendable, as dictated by own country
Wherefore, as in chess, you're pawn - initial sacrifice
I don't know if I'll ever see my family again,
But such is war, and with war, comes a price

Accoutrements, equipped, I finally take my station
On the off-chance that I get out of this Hell alive
Please do tell my wife, and my children, that I miss them
And if I don't, that with them, I'll always lie