Kopje Poems | Examples

To Say Goodbye....

You died at midday...
As we began the sweep
Down the kopje
Shot three times
The blood
Spilled on to granite
No time to weep
 
The crackle of gunfire
The deep thump of mortars
We could not help John
There was no time
He was gone
 
When the contact was over
When we finished our business
Of living for the day
We went back for John
The flies had settled on his drying blood
Upon the granite
Where he lay
 
There is no dignity
In dying this way
For John...
Upon the granite
Where he lay
 
We covered his body
With a camouflage jacket
We squatted down
Passed our smokes around
 
It is not a game
For death will find us
It does not discriminate
We are all the same
 
We carried John down
Remembering our guilt
Of not dying
Put him on the chopper
Closed our eyes to the dust flying
Soon he was gone
 
It could have been me
Up there
On the granite
Where John lay
In the suns' glare
 
Where he lay
Thirty years passed by
I still remember the gunfire
Where he lay
Nothing I could say
Except....
To say goodbye...