The Vineyard

1. A girl walks on a lonely aisle of a vineyard. Her body is illuminated in a blue tint by the purple sky. I follow her as she picks grape and goes into a house in the middle of the vineyard. She eats the grape and drinks its wine. Her life is beautiful. I am losing myself in her purple eyes. Gases sting my eyes as our base is attacked with the enemy's chemical weaponry. I see fragile frames of men crumble under the violent impact of artillery. Bolts of fire shoot from the scorched sky to annihilate all life in their way. I see men I have known die in my arms, never to return. My sight is blurry as my gas mask is covered in dust. Infernos of hell consume the flesh of men and its dark abyss their blood. I see flashbacks of politicians and wealthy men in suits who authorised this war grin and pat our backs as they send us to this hell. My firearm is heavy as I fidget and fire in the dark emptiness eager to kill. Morning light reveals the waste and

despair that saps the heart of its hope and goodwill. We march on, the remaining soldiers of the battered battalion. The girl shows me around her vineyard. We sit on a hill, her eyes let me see a love. A love unlimited, a love unconditional, a love supreme. I thump my open palm and bang my knees on the dusty ground as I collapse under the scorching sun. Obscenities, a kick in the ribs and a yank on my arm from war mates have me up and marching on. We make another base somewhere unknown. We needed to make a call for location, more ammo, food, water but all the phones were destroyed. We would then have to rely on chance or our poor navigation skills to get to the main base. I see one of us dragging his mangled foot, another wincing as he adjusts his dislocated shoulder. We share a measly meal among the seven of us. I see the temple of one of us crush and explode bloody brains as he falls in the ensuing ambush. A rifle butt is extended and

shoved in my face with massive force to render me unconscious. 2. The girl listened to my beauty. My songs were accommodated by her inspiration. Divine waves of passion echoed an epic lust. I hear screams to find myself and the remaining three soldiers of my battalion tied up and being tortured by our captor. Men crying like babies as their body parts are severed. Listening to our captor shout out curses and vows of death to all citizens of our nation. A metallic click and snap, then a deafening barrage of clangs to crack and shatter the bones and sever to splatter blood vessels of yet another of our soldier's frame. I hear myself breathe heavily in fear. The girl is lenient to my indiscretions as I taunt her attentive ear. She hears of my prowess, charm and credibility as the wind rushes to acquaint her serene face. Blessed

was I that she had the ear for my splendor. She lays her ear on my chest to listen for sincerity. I hear my heart skip a bit as freezing water is splashed on my frame to wake me. The enemy beats and maims us, the remaining three. One of us is untied and his mangled frame clatters on the bloody floor. Chains on his wrists and ankles screech against bone and concrete as they drag and sit him in a chair. Screwing and adjustment is done on a video camera as they set it on a tripod in front of him. An eerie cry haunts my ears as a blade butchers our soldier, his windpipe helplessly gasping for air, breathing in blood instead. The blade then gets stuck in the bony vertebra of our soldier, the enemy not wanting to look amateurish, pulls a pistol trigger to snap the soldier's skull open and leave him dead. One of them shouts at the video camera before they drag the remains of our soldier away. It is quite, I only

hear the trickle of my blood and excrement on the floor as my frame dangles in chains. 3. The girl sniffed me and understood my needs. I bathed her, her aroma to give me much affection. I rubbed her with scented oils, the whiff of her nudity to give me much accomplishment. The enemy comes back shouting in my face, his breath is so vile as to make one vomit. His body odour is a stench of metal and grease. So I vomit in his face. Suddenly, there is a big quake. The girl taunted me with her flower, how lovely it smelled. She gave off scents to tell a thousand rich tales. My nose is stuffed with dust and smoke. There has been an attack on the enemy's base. I am in rubble on the floor, next to me one of the enemy is barely alive. I take his gun out its holster and freshen his stinking mouth with lead. We untie ourselves to escape, the remaining two soldiers of

our battalion. The rest of the enemy is nearby fighting off the offensive. A strong gas numbs and ruptures my sinuses after one of the enemy throws an explosive towards us. As he approaches, I lunge myself at him to meet his waiting knife that he swiftly drives into my abdomen. I can smell the iron in it, as I cough my own blood. I struggle with him to the floor, his hand and knife still stuck in my belly, I shoot his head to splash his blood and gun powder in my face. We drag ourselves out the enemy base, my war mate's mangled foot now rotting, disgusting my nose. We head out and make a run for it, our rescuer's plane being shot down. 4. I am lost in the girl's word as she speaks of a sensual life. She kisses me and her tongue licks all my sins away. I am panting as I run clutching my torn belly, I'm in pain, dehydrated and starved.

Grain once graced my tongue, with the occasional stake, ice cream and sweets and how I miss the water. After what seems a marathon run, we take refuge behind a rock. My war mate tells me of his mother and how worried she must be, about his brother and sister, his wife and son. He tells me of the innocent times when he would wrestle with his little brother, who's awe for him has lessened over the years piled with disappointment. His then girlfriend and now wife, who he would sweep off her feet with promises of a good life. Of how his wife and mother still hope. His son's adoration for him. So overwhelming for him that he lets out a big laugh and sigh. He reckons we are close to our main base judging from the vegetation around there. I cringe and grind my teeth as the knife wound stings me. My war mate gets up on his mangled foot only to fall on his face and breath in sand into his wind pipe. I punch his back to relieve his choking. We decide to take further

rest before we continue. The girl sucked me and gave my body vigor. The taste of her tongue enough to quench sweetness my thirst. Tongue us of unsurpassed transcended beyond

earths of emerald. 5. The girl touched the sky, my dreams were formed by her soft hands. She offered me her flower to pluck. My war mate and I touch up and head on supporting our weak forms on one another. My boots are sticky to my feet and my army suit drenched with blood and irritable to my skin. As we struggle on to find our main base, we share our common differences. I bump knuckles with my war mate and promise a night out for a beer or two. We are overjoyed when we spot our main base a distance away, we can almost touch it. My war mate clutches me tightly as bullets tear through his body. I clutch him back as he crumbles

to the dirt, to assure him that death was better than what we were facing. The enemy was on my heel shooting. A bullet touches my back and makes it leak. Another touches my leg to make my trek bleak. I turn around to return fire only for more bullets to touch my chest and head and make me fall under the enemy's gun. The girl caught me. Angelic wings of embrace calmed the storm of a deserted soul. I touched pregnant her womb, I loved her. Forever will I lay in her hands. - End-