TORTURE BY MENTAL SILVER-SCREEN

Humidity hangs in the air.
Sweat soaks our bodies.
A machine gun chatters
And a distant field gun thumps.
We tramp through the jungle,
While death hides in the gloom.

Perspiration drips and stings our eyes.
Swearing, cursing, staccato radio,
The rainforest steams in the sun.
‘INCOMING!’
And we all drop to the ground,
To the earthy smell of red mud.

A deafening explosion spews orange flame
And murderous steel fragments.
Then comes a tortured scream and a shout,'MEDIC!'
Still someone screams, a nerve shattering scream.
A medic jabs morphine into Jonno’s arm.
Then another shout, 'FOR FUCK'S SAKE, SHUT HIM UP!'

The screaming stifled and a slow death.
A piercing whistle of another shell.
Oh Christ, not again!
I snap awake trembling in my own bed.
Awake in a pool of moisture.
I’m alone and afraid.