We are the dead…..

Not Glorious dead

Just dead…

We’ve seen our last sunrise

Laughed our last laugh

Those who have known true love….

Have at least loved…

Death caught us by surprise

Soldiers occupational hazard …

It cannot be undone….

Pity is not what we want

Just remember us….

For we are the dead…

Not the Glorious dead

Just dead.

© Tony McNally

Subdued mumbled laughter

Cigarettes blinking like fireflies

Men together

Hot tea sipped

Tales of romance

Exaggerated 

Eyes flicking in the mist

Weapons held close

Ammo checked

Completely in the moment

At ease with each other

Random chat

Football

Fighting

More sex

No eye contact

Macho men

Preparing

For history

Last drink of tea

Fag butts crushed underfoot

All at once

They turn

Like the tide

“Listen Inn.”

Then it began.

 © Tony McNally

Thou shalt not Kill

They told me at school

To love they Neighbour

Seemed to be the rule

Then I became a soldier

Rules seemed to change

They gave me a rifle

I practiced on the range

We killed wooden images

Of Russian soldiers

The recoil of the rifle

Bruising the shoulders

Then one day it was War

Padre blessed us on the ship

We sang “Onward Christian Soldiers “

Prayed we wouldn’t get hit

So we were the good guys?

They were the bad?

We were given the green light

To kill was not so bad?

We won our War and went home

Handed back our weapons

Went home and hugged our families

Trying to ignore our nightmare demons

Back to, Thou shalt not kill

I suppose will be the rule

Until you’re Country says

Pick up that gun you fool.

© Tony McNally

Then it began……
Id read about it
Watched it on TV
Dreamt about it
Here is yours
WAR……
Then it was over
I stopped reading about it
Watching it on TV
Dreaming about it?
Then it began
Again
Again
Again
Again…….
When will it end?

Take my body to Avalon
Place it on the pyre
When my shell disappears
Drink loudly and sing
Raise your swords and axes
As my ash is taken by the wind
Laugh like men
Wave me goodbye
To the gates of Valhalla
A warriors end
To join the ranks of the afterlife
Guardian angels of the living
No sorrow
Just joy
Not gone
Just altered
Home.

A sea of burning foaming waves

Black sky suddenly alight with Flames

Quiet mountains

Now engulfed in violence

Screams echo between the rocks

Heroic deeds

Life taken in an instance

A brother falls

Your heart torn out

Onwards you go

Into the pages of history

Just survive this hell

No thoughts of home

Slam home another magazine

Cordite burns your nostrils

Meaning your still of this earth

To move towards a wall of bullets

Why?

Because you’re a soldier

More fear of failing your comrades

Than dying for your Regiment

Crack thump

Down

Then up

One more bound

I will survive

The dawn light

Will see me home

The class of 82.

© Tony McNally

It floats up above our head

Made of colorful thread

The first one was made by hand 

And even that one looked so grand

It's always inspired me

When it's up there for all to see

It gets soldiers through the night

So they wake up to see the light

Because when they see it flying

It reminds them why they kepp on trying

It represents the land of the free

And it means everything to me

It's lasted through all the ages

And people write about it, pages and pages

Without it, our country is naught

Even though so many have fought

All those soldiers on the front lines

Reminds me that this country of mine 

Is always free, through and through

All because of that Red White and Blue.

*

8 POEMS

-saiom shriver-

UNIVERSAL WE

*

The universal
all-including we
encompasses thee,
circumscribes me

*

ANOREXIA CURE

*

She said she was
able to conquer
anorexia by
focusing on food
as fuel.

*

UNSUBTLE

*

The woman would
go to AA meetings
and describe
how alcohol made her
more promiscuous.
She always wore
a “Rent Me” tshirt.

*

THIRD EAR

*

God
caused me as I awoke
to hear
in my third ear
“Not in the morning
(mourning) pond does
the lion wash his blood.”

1. ‘The Lion of Judah
is Jesus’ interpreted one friend.
2. Jean said that the lion
does his killing at night.
3. If the evening pond is older
than the morning pond, a
lion chooses an older partner
who heals him.
4.
In the evening the lion
does not see his blood
… his sin… the pink suntinted
waters reflect only his
perfection.

*

BREAKING THROUGH MATRIX

*

A woman trying to disentangle
herself from a relationship
with her serially unfaithful
and frequently
violent husband of whom she
was afraid… heard in her third
ear
“As much as possible sleep
under the midnight sky.”

*

HIGHER MAGNETISM

*

Tom met a woman… and
told her she was dating 2 men
and that she was more
sexually attracted to the
shorter man. Then he asked
her which of the two would
be a better father for her
children. She chose the taller
man.

*

TRAFFICKING

*

All human trafficking is
heinous… from child prostitution
and child labor to kidnappings
of adults… drafting them into
armies, chaining them
in brothels, enslaving
them as domestics.

Trafficking in trillions
of animals to EAT them
does not receive as
much attention.

Human and animal trafficking
are combined in many of the world’s
fishing corporations.

Eating fishes is not only
playing Russian roulette with
ones health and causing
suffocation agony to fishes
but is a factor in human slavery
as well.

*

HUMAN TRAFFICKING

*

THAI CHILD PROSTITUTION AND
FISHING INDUSTRY KIDNAPPING

Thailand is a gentle country..
which has banned logging to
save its forests
and which is permeated by the nonviolent
vibrations of Buddhism. But its dark
side includes being a worldwide
center of child kidnapping and
prostitution, as well as tolerating
kidnapping and forced labor in its
fishing industries.

WAR

In every military there are men
separated from their wives who
seek sexual outlet with prostitution,
destroying families and spreading STD’s.
The soldiers of the world are a factor
in human trafficking.