The Invisible

A poem about a combatant's perspective

The Invisible

 

Faceless, amaranthine, immortal

Cracks behind my ear keep score

On my whittled head

Sighting nothing

I strafe

Tangled jungle

But a blind limner am I,

With an M16

 

Bullet fireflies rip woven darkness

From Gordian tunnels

Maelstrom drowns my soul

Percussion blurs me

Blood slaked eyes,

If I could see them

Gunpowder embosses my heart

 

Smoke them all

 

Vengeance’s oracle

Explodes my buddy’s neck

Gurgling blood on me

I watch death root

Untouchable, almost whimsical

The lurid plagiarist mocks life

Cuddling my morality

 

My buddy’s blank face, draws his last,

My blank face, draws my fate

From above I see

I’m just an invisible man

In an invisible war

In an invisible country