Refugees of Reason

99 Percent

Dead!
I died right here
where you walk.
A piece of red hot steel
crashed through my skull
and put me down;
not instantaneously, mind you;
that's a bunch of bullshit.
Enough brain remained
to feel the mud
rise up and splash my face;
face-to-face with earth
— and my own mortality.

The grimy, muddy stew
washed into my mouth
and flowed back out
carrying my life blood with it.
The shattered side of my head
and its dura matter,
my life history captured within its
  synapses,
slid out of the gaping wound
and mixed with the slime of battle.

99 percent of us,
nearly all of us,
I mean since antiquity,
perished long before
youth could grow into manhood!
So few sunsets 'under our belt'
so many sunrises not yet experienced.
Too many of us expired
before our manhood could grow
and we could taste
the sweet breath of love
and lay sweating between needy legs;

Never to experience
the loving embrace of a child,
nor comfort their uncontrolable sobs
when dignity is injured
from siblings slight;
never to experience
a child growing up,
the stages that pass,
and experience the pride
that parents feel for their children.

Instead devoured by maggots,
my molecules flew away,
molecules unidentifiable,
my body never found:
'MIA' they say -
not old enough to 'fade away,'
but old enough to die
for cause and country,
and waste our spirit
on behalf of old men's brinkmanship.

(Decomposition began years ago
and only molecules remain.)
And you, you step away.

~ gtk