Home    

Images of war 06 - Hide and Seek

by Paganini Jones

He wears a punk hairstyle
and a crusader’s breastplate.
In his hands are
a broken air rifle
and a silver-plastic cowboy-gun.
This is not another nightmare
but some game.

He looks up at me, worried.
“Have you seen two little children?
We'’re playing hide and seek.
I’m a Christian.
They are Iraqis.
I’ve got to find them
but I don’t want to get shot.”

I shake my head,
ask if he has looked over there,
point at the shrubs.

He wanders around the corner.
I wonder, where would I hide
here in this village,
If I didn’t want to get shot.
An empty wheelie bin?
Under shrubs?

Birds sing out from the hedges.
It is nesting time
A magpie watches from an elm.

He comes back,
small boy in tow.
He carries a cardboard shield
and a potato gun.
“He gave up,’’ says his brother.
“He'’s on my side now.”

A small girl stands
by the corner shop
that is also the post office
and public house.
She wears blue ribbons
and carries
a water pistol.

“Bang, bang! You’re dead!”
her brother says.
She falls to the ground
laughing.
It is only a game.

25th April 2003

04/25/2003

Author's Note:
This poem is based on a true incident that happened whilst I was waiting for a bus in the tiny village of Gristhorpe in North Yorkshire. The effects of war fought at a distance are far more far reaching than we could imagine. The words are my own.

Posted on 09/25/2004
Copyright © 2024 Paganini Jones

Member Comments on this Poem
Posted by Maureen Glaude on 09/25/04 at 11:25 PM

brilliant and scary & sad indeed - quite imaginable

Posted by Charles E Minshall on 10/02/04 at 06:18 AM

Food for thought Pagan....Charlie

Posted by Brett Shane on 06/13/05 at 12:04 PM

another one that hits me close... if only there were a reset button on this 'game'

Posted by Ken Harnisch on 08/10/10 at 04:21 PM

In its childlike simplicity, this poem is utterly profound..more meaningful now in a million ironic ways than the day it was written. POTD, indeed. Well-deserved, Pags!

Return to the Previous Page
 

pathetic.org Version 7.3.2 May 2004 Terms and Conditions of Use 0 member(s) and 2 visitor(s) online
All works Copyright © 2024 their respective authors. Page Generated In 0 Second(s)