Convoy

Green and tan, shirt and boots. All in a row. All on your back, Ready to go. Brave women and men. Not true. Going because we have to, Silently wishing for war. Wanting to prove ourselves as our fathers before. I place trust in them they do theirs, and I do mine. Soldiers first, gender second. When the fire flies, will I react? Eyes downrange, or the boy at my feet. IED, roadside grenade, Today's special All you can kill. Lane changes under London's. Avoiding tossed death. Talking box, brings on the dead. BOOM! Glass and hot metal spread. Armored skin open like a tuna tin. Broken bodies. Peace is missing. A finger in my pocket. May be al that's left. Eyesight denied. Blindness survived.