writing from
Scars Publications

Audio/Video chapbooks cc&d magazine Down in the Dirt magazine books

 

This writing was accepted
for publication in the
108 page perfect-bound ISSN# /
ISBN# issue/book
 “In the Singularity”
Down in the Dirt, v175
(the September 2020 Issue)



Order the paperback book: order ISBN# book 		Down in the Dirt

Order this writing that appears
in the one-of-a-kind anthology
Late Frost
the Down in the Dirt Sept.-Dec.
2020 issues collection book

 Late Frost (Down in the Dirt book) issue collection book get the 420 page
Sept.-Dec. 2020
Down in the Dirt
6" x 9" ISBN#
paperback book:
order ISBN# book

Pilgrim at Pointe du Hoc

Robert Funderburk

White Cliffs of Heaven, rising from the sea
That’s how I saw them from the ship
Before we sloughed through the waves
In the Higgins Boat, rank with the smell
Of vomit and fear; before the gate dropped
And German lead snuffed lives like so many lamps

Before we slogged through rose-colored surf
And up a littered beach to the tenored clanking
Of jacketed rounds playing the tank traps
And before I saw all hope leave that first young face
Bracketed by the iron sights of my Garrand
A disbelief at his own mortality sparked in his eyes
And we became brothers in the fragile brevity of human flesh
As the butt stock thumped against my shoulder
Something cold and seductive brushed against my soul.

The roar of battle was that of some beast from Revelation
Turned loose on the world, spewing smoke and fire
Stumbling forward into madness and up those heights
I found myself amid the carnage and settling calm at the top

I expect the view had once been for lovers in moonlight
Or sunlit children, their laughter ringing against the sound of the sea
Now wreckage and random butchery of war held sway
Landing craft burned and smoldered against the leaden sea
Bodies, once containing the image of God,
Rocked gently in the surf, their uniforms torn and stained
Or lay among tank traps, or closer to those white cliffs
They did not reach.

(First published by Evening Street Review)



Scars Publications


Copyright of written pieces remain with the author, who has allowed it to be shown through Scars Publications and Design.Web site © Scars Publications and Design. All rights reserved. No material may be reprinted without express permission from the author.




Problems with this page? Then deal with it...