Can You Ever Move On?

• Zach Harris , Grade 11
• Poetry
• 2009

I’ve been conscripted, I’m as white as a ghost.
Travelling up the rugged mountainside, as slow as a snail.
Determined to help save my country, as honourable as the truth.
I wait in fear.

Battle breaks out, blood everywhere, as red as rubies.
Bombs dropping, like elephants stampeding.
Planes getting swatted out of the sky, as insignificant as flies.
I wait in fear.

Moving in formation, like ants at a picnic.
As tired and as weary as a one-armed wall paperer.
This war was inevitable, like the rising sun.
I wait in fear.

Home from my tour of duty; silence… as still as the night.
The love of my family, as constant as a heart beat.
Time to see the brighter side of life; a child’s laughter.
I wait in peace.