Lonely when away from home

The mood this week is black, it was crazy days in the office. So here's a moody, angry piece for the weekend.

It was written some time ago, something about my army days. This piece has
been heavily edited.


image enhanced by dsnake1
from a photo from bigfoto.com

Lonely when away from home


Tomorrow, we will be flying over the South China Sea
& home.

after weeks of lugging weapons & fatigue
over rolling hills
sloshing across muddy fields
sleep-marched through small villages
where little children followed you
as if you were movie stars
asking questions, begging for money,
enough is enough

even the placid shores
of Sun Moon Lake
was a short respite
to rest sore limbs
or the whores of Taichung
with their ample cleavage
& tiny shorts
caged in barred rooms like animals
were just fickle distractions.

but tonight, we went on a crazed binge
the last day of R&R
in downtown Taipei
in smoky pubs
we guzzled
like there was no tomorrow
pissed till
our faces greener
than the neon on the walls

one last night in a foreign city
we sat by the road kerbs staring, singing
of brotherhood, to the bruised hills
we were leaving behind.
we shared a smoke
raised beer bottles to the stars
to the jetliners
screaming into the airport
then
as the black shell of a sky fell on us
my comrades, my brothers
my thoughts, their thoughts we tumbled towards home.

Tomorrow, we will be flying over the South China Sea
& home



1988
revised April 2002
revised 01/01/07
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