大象传媒

Poem by Esta lefton

They came at dawn
with vacant, purple rimmed eyes

one by one filing in
scarred bodies dripping blood
hair matted with blood and sand
clumsily walking
carrying guns and gear,
faces masked by pain,
muttering the names of dead friends.

Later I walk the dark lanes,
sit beside a tree,
my head ringing with bombs,
with anger,

when all I want to hear are the bells
ringing out
for the end of the war.

War in Egypt 11 by Esta Lefton

I was on duty
all night

went to the window
stared into the sky:

dawn on the horizon
tents full of soldiers-

some snored
some grunted and
some swore.

Dawn was misty,
the sky still.

The damp sand was cold
and I felt ill.

Closisng Their Eyes by Esta Lefton

Stretcher after stretcher,
they come,

their limbs touching
the ground,

no twitching,
no life.

The guns still
thundering,
I pull the lids over
blue eyes green eyes brown eyes
all indifferent to light.

I want to shake them awake,
touch them kiss them.
instead I am a dead girl
among dead men.

Mara from the Balkans by Esta lefton

You trouble me.
Like a terrified animal,
You scream
all day
and all night

Yoyr eyes huge,
your face pale with fear,
your starved body
wriggling like a snake,
Your long black hair
full of nits
and the lice
that fly all over you
and me

I hold your emaciated
body tightly, stroke your hair
kiss your face,
wash your hair with paraffin and soap
Mara,
you won't scream any more.

I dress you in the clothes
I bought from Cairo:
red shirk, white blouse,
black shoes and white socks,
red ribbons.

Now your face glows,
as we stroll together in Suez
holding hands.

Now you're ready to go home,
and I must let you go,
but you will forever live
in my brain.
I will never forget
how you once troubled me.

Rome - Monte Cassino 1944 by Esta Lefton

Monte Cassino.
Spring - silence.

A thin layer of snow
covers the top,
flowers hiding
between rocks,
a profusion of almond trees
figs, olives, vines
growing around villages,
twisting round the hills,
their scent intoxicating.

I stood back,
fumbled in my brain
to unravel the past.

------------------

A cold shiver
woke me from a dream.

They grey mountains
shaken and split,
stones and earth
weeping,
road twisting
between fields,
empty villages,
fragmented buildings,
fields laid waste,
trees wounded.

Bodies strewn
unburied,
soil a crimson colour,
no grass,
no smell of flowers
only decay.

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