Trench Of Retreat Poem by Lance Uppercutt

To see the landscape
The holes
Extricated earth
Fallen timber
All tales the toll

Till that time, victims
I had never accrued
But now on this landscape
A few are strewn

Tired and scared
Glazed over stare
My worry is cast
This fights going to last

Clutching to these things
I thought would help fight a war
My side must be winning
Even if this is my first tour

I marched here in warmth
Such as fights fought before
But now it is in my back yard
Instead of on some distant shore

I want not the fire, grind, and blood
Oh, I did not know what I was asking for
The romance, the novelty of going to war
As it rages, rages up to my front door

Winning is still defeat
As they reload their deceit
I'll just lob yet another grenade
From my trench of retreat

Perhaps I'll cease my part in this fight
Perhaps granted full quarter or my part will be flight
Perhaps they won't see me
And march right on past
Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps
Or just not quite as fast

They don't disguise what they want
It's your back you'll have to give
But I'm using it in this fight
And to dig, dig, dig,

Score kept through attrition
And depression's nutrition
Dig with my knees and back
And my work ethic of attack

Work to the bone on now sunless day
While back home others collect my pay
They all smile while they eat
My tired heart of concrete
Still have my mud and rat meat
In my trench of retreat

This mud mixed with pain
Having always just rained
No up and no out
Digging is the sound
Deeper down is my run
To deny reach of the sun

Home for no other soul
Just me with my hole
No name, no face, just some meat
Slice here for your treat
Then repeat, repeat, repeat
Isolated and discreet
Down in this trench of retreat

Black way down deep
Is the color of this hole
Black are the eyes that keep
Watching my soul so cold

To look at the clock
And see so much left to tick
To sigh at the sight
And hope it's some sick trick

No room to lay down
Sleep upright in this ground
It's so cold, minus ten
Oh goodie, rain again
And again, and again
Then the darkness whispered
'I'll be your new friend'
I do not dare lift up
I do not dare take a peak
I'll stay forever hunkered down
Down in this trench of retreat