The LAST War

 

I have translated fragments of the letter found near the battle site:

 

        ... (it) hurts when I try standing, but it will be better after a nice mineral bath. Don’t think for a minute you’ll get out of dancing with me just becau...

 

        ... ager was killed right in front of me. We honestly never saw them coming. They’re inhuman, the way they can be so quiet. We were resting and he’d just taken a drink of water when six of them...

 

        ...that kind of weaponry. If our tactics hadn’t been more clever than theirs, well, let’s just say this letter would be coming to you from someone else. Dad told me about the war when he was young... but that was nothing like this. It’s hard to be so far from...

 

        ...him that I love him and Mom too. Tell your Mom that we can name the baby after her grandfather (or great-grandfather) whatever it is that she wants. I am so tired of fighting that I’ll agree to just ab...

 

        ...to finish this and get it to you somehow. Five days have passed since I started writing it. Which is good really. When I started scratching this down it looked pretty bad. We’d lost half our troops and three of our commanders... but it’s starting to wind down now. Don’t misunderstand, the place reeks with the smell of the dead and we are all so caked in dirt I don’t think we’ll ever be clean. The knee is doing better - and I’m still looking forward to a long soak!  I do love you so. I can tel...

 

        ...back with you in just a week, maybe I’ll even beat this ‘epic’ I’ve been writing!  We’re doing some clean up now... some people are actually taking ‘souvenirs’... but I’ll be happy if I never even hear of this place again. As we burn the spent weapons (and the dead from both sides) it has given me time to think. While I still wish that this war had never come upon us... I am glad that we have done it. It will lead to a lasting peace here... and that is something worth fighting for... The new commander is having us all call it “The Last War”, probably thinking that just saying it will help to make it true. I hope he’s ri...

 

        We’re done!  I will bring you this tablet myself!  We have secured everything here and there is nothing but parades between me and your loving arms. The Last War is over, we have won and it’s time to begin the happily ever after part of our lives and history. Thank the gods that they smiled on us.

——

        The words that survived were in amazing condition - obviously carefully preserved. Radio-isotope dating places the cuneiform covered clay leaves as being written in 2770 BC and refer to a battle where Egyptians invaded Palestine as a reprisal for attacks on trade caravans. Two years later the first 365 day calendar was introduced, iron was first made and used and papyrus began to replace clay writing.

 

        Unfortunately, though the combatants have changed, “The Last War” took the same number of lives that year... as it did this year, in almost the exact same spot. In fact, had the car bomb not gone off prematurely, we may never have found the artifacts that lead us to the present dig.

Reviews

[Mike Mitchell]

This is amazing. It makes me want more, even though at the same time I know it's not possible.

I like the style of using the cutoff so the narrator gets very few of his thought across, but at the same time you know exactly what he's thinking.

Also, the technique of, almost everytime, getting more and more of the text into translation, so it has a pyramid kind of look. Very nice.

[[untitled]]

I am awestruck...I read few stories and I am a poetry person. This is brilliant.

[Michael X]

Nice detailing, your imagery takes the reader to the battlefield and flows with a sense of dramtics
that captures screenplay performances, the originality makes the entire vision stand out, passionately
penned, and well written, heartfelt, and expressed with a great sense of clarity, i really enjoyed the read.

[Serenedy]

You would think that those would be controversial putting up there but I'm glad you did; my dad went to Iraq in 2004 and came back for good in 2006. I wrote a poem for him called "America Fights Back" It's a pretty good read if you're interested. Now about those letters, I think if you have the whole part of the letters you should put them up. The way you put those up there reminds me of something book writers call narritive hooks; they just keep me asking for more. :)