The hireling
Applications are being waited on
for the position of mercenary
or now rather security consultant
to with and for the Americans
help to make
Afghanistan and Iraq tame.
Jannie from bush war
and Angola fame
applies to go
and he is selected
with a group of special soldiers
that stand separate from the others smoking
who can parachute
and take life
in diverse ways
and in secret he gets on a plane
that stands on Waterkloof air force base
and takes off in a northeastern direction.
The pay is good
and US-dollar strong
and it’s a fixed job
that he can find nowhere in his own country
and for a while
Jannie is very happy
for being able to give money to Sannie
to buy food
and small Jan can get rugby boots.
His blue eyes cuts
day after day through people
to try and identify terrorists
but how do you really know
who is carrying a bomb
and who wants to die for his faith?
There are many things
that the Americans learn from him
and he from them,
but while on leave
he is in the bath on the third storey
of a hotel in Baghdad
and an Arabic woman and child
walks into the lobby
and she smiles shyly beyond her veil
and a bomb explodes
that nearly kills him
and cuts his legs off
and confused the world turns around him.
poem by Gert Strydom
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
No comments until now.