Drown

It was like Death had found me on his fist

Bullets spattered and churned out of the machine guns in front

Shells whined and whistled as they drilled men into the sinking earth

The brave little pawns charged out still

But soon their hearts would be ripped from their chests

Death’s skeletal hands ran red with their blood.

For those who had made it across, they were met with the horrors of hundreds of dead bodies

Strewn across the ground, one enemy soldier lifted a hand

A final plea for help

Then lay still, motionless

His body ran red with his blood.

As I looked back I saw a man

Drowning in pain from Death’s arrow burrowing in his leg

Drowning in his own helplessness as he lay there

Drowning in the sheer misery of living

Of still existing in this living hell

His leg pinned to the ground as it ran red with his blood.

Nothing I could do to aid him

Naught that anyone could do

For they all lay dead upon the barren land

I watched on, Paralysed

As he was drowning

As he drowned

The sky ran red with their blood.

- By Anson Chan

Remembrance Day 2023