Army Pay (1976--west Germany ((a Poem))

he is in pain. I can hardly stand it.

I know I have to do it. I called in a

medical helicopter. he won"t budge.

he hands the corporal his rifle. if

I fail he dies.

I know what he did. I can"t tell him

I know. he aimed. he couldn"t, but

he did. he tried again. he pulled the

trigger and moved. a sharp left. he

missed. he fired one shot. into his

mouth.

there are bones, teeth, flesh scattered.

soft wit flesh dripping from his face.

long chunks hanging. oozing pink

and reddish tissue hangs. he missed.

he tried to kill himself.

the corporal is really shook, holding

his hand. if he looks in the mirror he"d

go historical. some tears by his eyes.

this will be the fullest one minute he

will have ever known. he wants to go

home.

they walk him to the helicopter. twenty

years old. he loses his grip, a private

grabs hold of him. he was almost dead.

nothing more to be said. fate will handle

it. army pay tomorrow.

#805/1976 [written 8/16/05]

Note: The author spent eleven years in the Army [l969-l980], seeing many things; this situation being just one (he is a Vietnam Veteran also). Says the author, "�Soldiers get under pressure and try to harm themselves to get out of the army, shoot themselves in the stomach, or foot, etc; and sometimes miss. Especially when they are under constant pressure; in this case, it was at a nuclear site in West Germany, in l976, and I was the Sergeant in Charge of the compound during the evening hours of that night; and thus, the suicide (so assumed) did not go as planned for the sufferer."�