A Dog Begins to Bark

February 5, 2013 at 9:21 am · Filed under Dark Side, Poems ·Tagged ambush, fear, guard duty, shadows, Vietnam, war

War is hell, and the Vietnam war was a different kind of hell for the men–some of them still boys–who went there. This is another poem about that war, inspired by Tim O’Brien‘s book If I Die in a Combat Zone. Thank you to all Vietnam veterans! We appreciate your service and sacrifice.

A Dog Begins to Bark

In the purest black of night

No stars, no moon, no city lights

Ambush is all but certain

 

Jogging from foxhole to foxhole

Grenades clumping at our belts

Then lying on our backs to wait

 

Hating the waiting, the wondering

Will we live or die

Not wanting to die in the dark

 

Moving again, making too much noise

Down a winding dirt road

A dog begins to bark

 

Voices speak urgently

From inside shadowy huts

As we move quickly past them

 

Moving in single file

Reaching to touch the soldier ahead

Fearing being lost and alone in this place

 

Zigzagging through graveyards

Dead enemies under piles of wet dirt

The man behind me emits a muffled sob

 

Trying to think of other things

The grouchy neighbor back home

Somebody shut that damn dog up

 

Copyright © 2013 C Mashburn

Picture courtesy of Google Images

Sharing this on dVerse Poets Pub’s Open Link Night #82 this afternoon. This is the second in my Vietnam series. The first one is called “Guard Duty” <— click on the title to read it.

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