I Am Saved

I have seen things in war, child p l e a s e all long and strangely broken in the middle M o m m a the same I used to wonder if we all die like children but I saw a child die once from a shell teary wet and snot-faced I saw him die looking at me not that I killed him but I was there so we just gazed for a second soft blue eyes same color shirt dirty crying words maybe German mother! I saw him die I remember spray of rocks and dirt blood too but I don’t remember the sound Some men die quiet some loud soft dying just oh candle flutters out soft dying by bomb no time to scream but the eyes such things I have seen loud dying by pain bloody guts and brain and quick amputate begging stream of names moaning cuss prayers forgotten but it doesn’t seem to do the trick so instead MOMMA MOMMA Momma m o m m a you don’t know what pain does to the eyes --fear’s worse but you know when there’s no more fear you know there’s no more screaming I don’t hear them but such things I have seen child