The most beautiful place
- painted out of nothing
shaped out of sandy mountains
Our war wagons rumble humble tunes
- five tons and ten no ones
all alone and forgotten in the war zone
Hot, hot, moments of time
- melting me away - drink water
the sulfur and quake of the ground are everything
Life living in the lifeless land
- and leave it to "Arch" to kill it
a parade of fools, we held a funeral, burying it
All there is, all that can be in this unlikely paradise
- I dreamed as my mind left
yet I awoke, because I had to hold the IV
Days that lasted forever, eyes blurry and face mud caked
- my blouse white with salt
one hundred degrees and midnight and I was cold!
The most beautiful place
- sunburned, my friends airlifted away
I only wish it had not robbed me of my dreams
Desert Visions (Part II)
All I remember of that night Is the forever loneliness Of being tired And the only one there left From my section The heat had killed us And as I stood My arm hurting, holding the IV I could only remember How they writhed and puked And at how natural war had become As the chopper flew my friends away
Part I
A vision in my mind
Through sun-blinded eyes
Water is never enough
To quench the thirst
And desire for green
Stars that never end
Mock the night sky
And I embrace them
In my mind
And think of what I have left behind
Part II
Complications have been reduced
Until they are simple survival
Through gangly laughter
And unknown generosity
We dismiss fears
Leaving behind our shadows
For only the light is seen
And anything else
Is to heavy to carry
Part III
On a distant shore
Many miles from water
A thorn reveals
Its gay laughter
It scrambles through sun-scorched sand
Thriving green
Reduced to a willow
A memory no longer seen
Part IV
Long grains of sunlight stream and weave
From the wide, impossibly pale sky above
I find myself thirsty for more
Than the sour, thriving kiss of the canteen
I am lost in a desert vision
Without warning, the sun shimmers
Languidly casting scarlet and gold bands
The incognito stars now unfold
And incubate us in their aged light
The days goes without saying, it's hot
Sapping our ambitions, thus we lay in lethargy
The same thistle once a sore sight of beauty
Now barbs itself in my flesh
And my dreams are reduced into desert visions
Part V
Far away
In another world
Another day
Passes away
Desert visions
No longer haunt my dreams
I wonder at times
What I really did leave behind
Copyright 1995, Stephen W. Cote and The Writer's Gallery.
Comments