by Bo Kibiwot on Monday, 22 February 2010 at 23:37 ·


Smoke, gunfire, blown up tanks,
The stench of blood,
The shouts and cries
Some being pulled out barely alive,
Bullets in their chests
No arms, no legs,
With barely beating hearts
It’s the end of the road
Their lungs take in their very last.
For those still alive
Their rescuers are afraid
It will be no surprise
If the surgeon cuts the wrong vein
Leading to their death.

Thousands of bullet shells,
All over the ground
The ammunition company counts profits
The cost, thousands of soldiers lives;
The soldiers lying dead
Guns by their side, helmets still in place,
Not forgetting the bullet proof vests
Which is just a name?
It didn’t do much in protecting them
From the bullet itself.

The generals and commanders are watching from a far
Giving orders through the radio
As they sip their coffee,
To them, this is just another game of chess,
It doesn’t matter
What piece gets thrown out of the game?
So long as in the end
The king has no moves left.
Today their soldiers will win a great war for them
‘Checkmate’
They get a medal of honor, everyone calls it a day
No one cares about the brave soldier
Who sacrificed everything to make this day a success;
That’s what it takes to be a soldier
To make a great sacrifice, a service to your nation.

In the news today, the minister of security
Gets a few minutes of fame
A chance to pose for the cameras
For he has something to say;
He’ll read he’s remorseful speech
And pretend to be very sad,
Later somebody will pick up his check
His pay, for a speech well written.

All this while
A mother has been praying for her son
To come back home safe;
There’s a knock at the door, a sergeant
There’s no looking twice, its obvious from his eyes,
Her son a tragedy of war
All she gets is a medal for her sons sacrifice.

Monuments will be raised for our fallen heroes,
The commanders live on to increase the size of their already fat bellies
From their fat salaries,
The general is happy and safe; after all he’s having a successful career,
As for the minister, some few minutes in the limelight mean no harm
In fact it only better his chances of running for office a second time.
I guess, that’s what it takes to be a hero;
To be a patriot,
You suffer for the sake of your nation
And watch as someone else eats up all your efforts.
It is how it is, ‘the chain of command’, as they call it
They plan the attack, you make the moves
As you bleed; its dinner, they sit down to eat
As you lie sick in the hospital, they party in celebration of their victory,
But one thing they won’t forget to do
Is to book you some space in the public cemetery.
All the same, life goes on!