WOUNDED, NOT YET DEAD war poem in Genghis Lotus Poetry Collection, a selection of poems free to read online. Webmaster for this site is poet Hugh Cook, born in Britain, educated in New Zealand, and the author of, amongst other works, the fantasy series Chronicles of an Age of Darkness.

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WOUNDED, NOT YET DEAD

Late afternoon.
The Greeks and Trojans scuffle in the dust.
The battle slips away to leave the plain
Dead dust beneath the sun.
A thing not death, not quite, though not quite life,
Gropes for its name.
Light is a stick which beats and stabs and hurts him.
Wings baffle down to the dust.
Claws trundle as his daze
Mouths air, mouths blood
To swallow a cough.
His focus sharpens
On a buzzard's eye black-hollowed,
Puck-blank above a scrawny neck,
Its motive knifing forward:
Thus!
Despite his spasm, the greeding puttock
Jabs past a warding hand,
Plucks a soft centre.
And the thing with no scream
Gapes at the blackness,
And wishes it could die.

Copyright © 2003 Hugh Cook
May be photocopied for classroom use

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