A strange autumn this, with its closed fisted,
hollow fruitfulness.
Ashen drapes shroud listless maples, a sky
reluctant to color its face.
A hostile pestilence has worn out
the pith of those who still survive.
War has beat itself upon our shores,
and the dragons of earth and sky
have allied themselves
to the hidden worms.
The unripe fall far too soon.
Categories:
shellshocked, poetry,
Form: Free verse
save those tears for the solitude of night
alone in your cold little widow’s bed
when gates open to memories flowing
still shellshocked by the emptiness
of his love suddenly gone
taking comfort in knowing
how it went down all so perfect
in every detail of every moment
how he slipped into the next life
like he was taking off a coat
with dignity and grace
because it didn’t fit anymore
stoic and brave
ready
after all
he was the olympian
ambassador in the first canadian team
tel aviv world paralympics
it was the summer of 1968
today they draped his body
with the national flag
as they carried him away
we stood in awe
saluting our last memory
out the door into forever
and now here lies the olympian
among mere mortals
at the foot of mount olympus
the man
the legend
AP: Honorable Mention 2021
Posted on December 14, 2020
Categories:
shellshocked, death, grief, hero, husband,
Form: Free verse
SHELLSHOCKED
slashed indigo lines
reconstruct your
mosaic face in
my head twisted
waves restricted by
10 inch wrist stitched
shellshocked minds
should we try piece
ourselves together
gathering scattered
smatterings of these
shellshocked minds
or should we leave
them on the floor
to tell of brutal
flaws hidden in numb
shellshocked minds
© Kim van Breda—3 December 2015
Categories:
shellshocked, confusion, fear, war,
Form: Free verse
Again
I am
a ticking bomb waiting to go off
my head filled with so many instabilities,
it’s like I have a shellshocked army in my head!
I daydream of stability, it hovers out of reach
like elusive happiness. You only know it was here
after it had left. Confusion drags me
down as images fill my head and swamp me entirely.
No way to stop this – have to endure it piece by jagged piece.
Only can write, try to release the darkness
and learn to be centred again.
Categories:
shellshocked, anger, angst, anxiety, dark,
Form: Free verse
War Of The World
Death, pain, blood, shellshocked men, suffering and darkness.
It's all they ever saw.
Soldiers thinking of their lives.
Rotting flesh and the whimper of dying men with their bodies half blown off.
Other soldiers shooting them in the head to end their pain.
The shattering sound of an explosive destroying lives and more ground.
Blood and body parts spray through the air and spread throughout the ground.
Total emptiness and nothingness.
Mounds and mounds of burning bodies and horses.
Scattered planes, tanks, trucks and others.
Burning guns and oil.
Because the world went to war so much was lost for so little gain.
The war of the world shall never be forgotten.
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Categories:
shellshocked, art, confusion, death, depression,
Form: Light Verse
Medals in a cupboard drawer
Testament of what went before
With his enemy held no score
Boy's turned men, played at war
In blooded field or muddy trench
Gaunt eye's stared from stench
Bone and boot so weary tread
At cannons call prayers are said
From shell holes came human cries
Voices lost in shrapneled skies
Shellshocked victims tied to post
Frontline justice feared the most
Boy's to men , men to ghosts
Not the story that glory boasts
Given the orders did blindly follow
To end all wars a promise hollow
And into the drawer another set
A different time, the same regret
The cost of war just wont relent
The family grieve and loss lament
Son loses father then loses son
How many times since time begun
Still soldiers, sailors children play
From toys to guns a price will pay
Categories:
shellshocked, warmen,
Form: Rhyme