i am the grass
This is one of my favourite works. Call it anti-war or what, but when I wrote it, it was intended as a perspective from the ground. When it was first published on this blog many years back, it elicited a good number of comments.
digital sketch by dsnake1, done with pencilmadness
i am the grass
i am the grass
the hard boots
of the troopers
trampled upon
going on recon
on ambush
on patrol
but today
i feed on their blood
and brass cartridges
as they left
in alarm
calling for choppers
for medic
for God.
i am the grass
i do not take sides.
03.01.2007
**********
“A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth.”
― Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried
Shared on Poetry Pantry #226 at Poets United.
© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2014
i am the grass
i am the grass
the hard boots
of the troopers
trampled upon
going on recon
on ambush
on patrol
but today
i feed on their blood
and brass cartridges
as they left
in alarm
calling for choppers
for medic
for God.
i am the grass
i do not take sides.
03.01.2007
**********
“A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth.”
― Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried
Shared on Poetry Pantry #226 at Poets United.
© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2014
Labels: anti-war, grass, military, personification, Poetry
posted by dsnake1 at 11:11 PM
22 Comments:
Many people and houses get broken during war.
yes, always the civilians suffer the most. :(
thanks for the visit!
This is a great way to look upon what's happening in a totally new perspective.. how could the grass ever take side.. and let the cows grace and grow fat..
This is a spectacularly effective poem, Lee San! The grass, unchanging midst all that is going on - what a cool perspective. Your sketch is wonderful, too. Very striking. Thanks for your very kind comment on my blog, my friend. I am happy you enjoyed my poem.
forbearance has immense power that ultimately triumphs...
Yes, nature doesn't take sides. In the end, we all become absorbed in the earth.
So true...the grass is always neutral. It sees all though, and I think sometimes it must sob.
Poignant, beautifully portrayed, and very effective, the use of innocent and nonpartisan grass to tell the heartbreaking tale of war. I'm not surprised you had a lot of comments on this when you first posted it - I feel richer for having read, thank you.
allow me to say that i really liked your digital sketch. the hint if green is very controlled.
the horrors of war. when will people learn? i particularly liked the here and then kind of poems.
To sit and have it not affect you would be the hope of all civilians.
Wow! The ground we walk on, the living earth and its inhabitants, drink and eat what we give them. Interesting and eerie that they merely have to wait past the hubris to taste the blood.
Bjorn,
yes, let the cows grow fat instead. :)
Sherry,
ha, sometimes my mind works in funny ways. :D
your poem is a timely message. we have done enough harm to Nature.
Sumana,
so true. :)
Torie,
i liked what you said about all will become absorbed into the earth. :)
Mary,
if it can see what is happening now, it will sob. :(
Ruth,
thank you for this great comment. :)
totomai,
thank you! looks like sume-i art? :)
the poem was originally not intended as anti-war, but i guessed it grew along.
G L,
no one wants to be involved in a war. but then again there are some... :(
Susan,
thank you.
no one really notices about the grass (or the ground or the sand) until desperate situations.
How much the grass has witnessed in silence and acceptance. This was an amazing piece of writing.
thank you, TALON! :)
Well done!
...and a "digital" drawing too!
Is there no end to your creativity? :-)
Have a great week my friend.
ZQ
ah, you flatter me, my friend. :D
Beautiful and profound! I can see why it attracted so mucha ttention. And the sketch is perfect with it.
So much hurt and anguish in war. I like that the perspective is from the grass.
thank you, Rosemary.
i like the sketch too. :)
yes, hurt and anguish.
thanks, Justin!
It reminded me the expression "Grow like a grass"...nobody cares what it does or think...but probably as you say
grass's not taking any sides...just is reflection of everything surrounded it...or opposites all in one, the whole thing...kind of love and hate in one body ~ thanks for 'food' to chew on it... :)x
yes, now that you said it, it's kind of love and hate in one body.
thanks for visiting, humbird. :)
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