By: D. DiFrancesco

Its warm and quite now
Oceans of tan and brown fade to black
I close my eyes but sleep seems to elude me
They don’t want us here.

Dawn arrives with a boom!
Haze clouds my vision
Restless sleep proves no reward
They don’t want us here.

Boots hit the ground!
Dust flies almost blinding
The sounds of yelling and running feet fill my ears
They don’t want us here.

Shouts of mount up, split the air.
Iron horses within we ride
Cloud thick dirt becomes the air I breathe
They don’t want us here.

Spider cracks, mirrors shattered
Rocks not stones thown with reckless abandon
Duck for cover out of natural reflex
They don’t want us here.

We’re here to help.
Superiors echo, they tow the company line
Calls for retribution go unanswered
They don’t want us here.

Menacing children their parents aware
Deference expected at all costs
Villages many, quietude evades
They don’t want us here.

Back to drab structures we call home.
Rest and repair awaits
Animosity subsides with works resumption
They don’t want us here.

Supplanting shattered glass
A ritual most repeated
For tomorrow will reinact this dual of wills
They don’t want us here.

To whom do we owe this greatest of honors?
A chance to die for what end
The new day replays the deadliest of dances
They don’t want us here.

With a final salvo its time for slumber
Wash the Afghan filth from a body that aches
Dawn’s break is right around the corner
They still don’t want us here.