Member Poem

Pain abates. A silent love zigzags
through his bullet wound. He is an

Indian mercenary fighting for the
Allies. He was born with a rusted

iron spoon in his mouth. Hunger
made him a soldier. He’s fit, fights

again for the alien cause. Her eyes
trigger his heart. For the first time,

he longs for an armistice. He seeks
for her in the surgical spirit smelling

reverie. A roaring war craft brings
him back from that French nurse.

A dumdum bullet pierces his chest
just before Germany signs! Streets

roar in rapture. Flags flutter above
the neglected agony. The stillborn

love is coffined. A war win is a
celebration over a variety wounds.

*World War memory - first prize winning poem
in the Lest We Forget Poetry Competition,
organized by Auckland War Memorial Museum.
First published in The Literary Hatchet.