Dramatis Personae

Meeting the Father....(experiment)

Is there a light ?
A glimmer of hope ......there in the field
Its getting cold....
Do you see the light?

Asked the lost soldier to the man,
sitting on the thick root of the tree
Caped from the head he had a daunting presence ....
But the soldier had seen too much of death .....he didn't care

You are young and strong.....said the man,
like my son used to be
he left for the war and never returned
he has been gone for years ...maybe long dead....

I see no light and i know not what you see.....
To the west there is the bunker
and this road leads to the encampment....
And the rest of the roads lead nowhere

The soldier found a familiarity
in the broken voice of the man
by shocked was he by his nonchalance at his son's Death..
Can you spare me some water then , said the soldier

Of course i would ...........said the man
but i have none you see
my insides are dry like the parched lands of my village....
but the all water is now lost..
there was a stream to the west but......

No, don't....said the soldier
we poisoned the waters of that stream ....
to drive the enemy out of the woods
if you drink you only court death....

I know .....said the caped man
my younger son drank from there .....
he coughed and panted and called his mother before falling still..
I buried him in the yard a while ago...

The soldier stood silent at this
and hung his head in shame ...
as if he had been the murderer
of the child who had nothing to do with their war......

Tell me old man....said the soldier
after hours of silences
do you have food in your house
has your wife cooked supper

I wish I could....said the man
Give you some food
for feed the hungry we must
but alas! friend i have none that i might spare

For at dawn today
the soldiers came and burnt my village and fields
they ravaged my wife and killed her too
and took my daughter with them

I buried them all
This morning
and now my friend I am tired ....
of shovelling earth and digging graves
and so i recline here in the shadows.....

Saying this the caped man
looked at the soldier in his eye.....
said he........ sir...I remember not
but i have seen you somewhere

The soldier stood in his silence
and wiped off the camouflage
and underneath the colors of war
stood the man's son, long dead......

posted by lightmatic @ 9:19 AM