Shrieks

Shrieks

Falling
Lifeless
Another one bites the dust.
Finished
The shattered remains
Falling to join the rest
And just as soon as it is gone
Another takes its place

The vow
Long ago
It had seemed like a good idea
At the time
But that was before
Before we'd learned
To accommodate
Communicate
And cohabitate

Before the peace
The treaty
When the war
Seemed like it would go on
Forever
Till the bitter end
Till the last man
Was standing
Or not

And there
And then
In the trenches
In the thick of it
With gossamer threads of silver
The Shrieks filling the sky
No melodies
Then
No chants
Just the shrieks

First it was Larry
Or was it Harry
Charlie
And Fritz
They died
Fast
And it seemed
Like all of us would die
And no one would live
So to keep the faith
To boost the morale
We made the vow

The vow
Last man standing
Would go on
Forever
Never forgive
Never forget
Never let the war leave his mind
And to do this
He'd have to find some
Nice
Quiet
Bar
Sit in the corner
All alone
And drink
And drink
And drink
As if trying to forget
But he never would

We all took the vow
All of us
Franz and Hans
And all of the rest
Not that I can remember their names
'Cause here I sit
And here I drink

But there is one I do remember
Poor little Pete
He never could hold his liquor
And when it was down
To just him and me
He up
And walked out of the trenches
Rather go on living
With the vow

Never forgive
Never forget
And never
Not ever
Let the glass go dry

Over here barkeep
I need another
Must not let the remembrance
Of my brothers
Go dry

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Shrieks

by

Brett Paufler