The place for writers: Upload your writing in minutes, receive peer feedback from other writers, poets, authors, then get your work published out there in the real world. Learn how other writers are doing it.
Screams
terrified cries
choked prayers
stifled by the blood in their throats
One boy is carrying a kidney
not his own
his best friend's
It's the only piece he can find
Another one is crying
mumbling incoherent words
He doesn't have time to remember
how words are suppose to go together
He's busy
trying to keep his intestines
inside of him
A blindning light
far away
No one rushes to safety
It's no use
not one of them can run
Only two can still use their legs
Half of them are heartbroken
crying out for their mammies
The other half
are stone cold
their faces will never crack open
never hold smiles again
They were boys
when they left
all of them
But they will never be men
any of them
Some will break
never fight again
Others
the ones that don't cry
they will be killing-machines
not even two decades old
They will be monsters
fighting a war they don't understand
fighting the bombs
fighting people with too fair skin
They are warriors
Yesterday's children
Want to comment on this Poetry? Sign up to Edit Red and you will be able to comment on Poetry and get access to: Upload your own stories and poems, get readers and their feedback, promote your work...
I think I might drop they in "they will be killing-machines", but the rest works in my head, for now.
I didn't have in mind terrorism. I hope not too many intepret the poem as an insult, since my point is that using children in war is wrong, because I have a feeling that they break easier than men or women. "fighting a war they donâ??t understand" is also one of my inspirations. I know nothing of war, but I don't like the idea of being sent out to fight for something I don't believe in. We in Sweden have charity-commercials on TV were children in Africa are being taken from their villages to fight for their "country". That's were I got my inspiration from.
I admire people who fight for their country, if it is done for "the right" reasons, and for reasons they understand.
trying to keep his intestines
inside of him" How about:
trying to hold his intestines in
They were boys
when they left
(all of them)
But they will never be men
(any of them)" I suggest that you drop the two indicated lines.
(they) will be killing-machines" drop that word?
They will be monsters" I would drop that line as it is offensive to anyone who has ever served their country. I get the feeling that you are writing from the viewpoint of what we now consider to be terrorists?
