“SOLDIER CHILD”

Right from the womb I could discern the sounds of gunshots
I could distinguish between the sounds of machine gun and AK47
I could hear the intense drum beats of war
I could hear war lords charging at their men to proceed to the war front
I kept on pondering what the outside world would be like

At birth, I realised it, it became apparent
I was born into a warring nation
Then it dawned on me that I was in trouble
I was going to be bred in an unpleasant environment

No lullaby
No nursery rhymes
My mother had the best voice on earth
All she could sing were songs of sorrow, anguish and pain
The only songs I learnt were war songs

It was inevitable, it was meant to be
I was destined to be a “soldier boy”
No words of encouragement to get me inspired to become a great person in life
The only form of encouragement was from the soldier man
He charges at my comrades and I to march to the battle field

We were hardened
Our hearts as hard as a solid rock
We were trained to be merciless
To kill, maim and to destroy

We were deprived of childhood
Those years of complete innocence
I wonder what it feels like
Those years we were to be under the warmth of our mothers’
Sometimes I wish I was never born
I cursed the day I was born

Peace and tranquillity were rare commodities
Our communities were full of soldier men in armoured tanks
Women were raped, girls robbed off their chastity
All we could see around us was horror
Gory images of innocent souls gruesomely murdered was normal
Blood, decaying corpses and bullet ridden homes was normal

I struggled through adulthood
I became emotionally unstable because of events of past years
I was denied the bliss of childhood
I vowed my children would not undergo what I went through
I wanted them to experience childhood

The ghosts of my past life haunt me
In my dream, I see souls of children we killed during the war
They are hunting for me in vengeance
It is not my fault
I was destined to be a soldier child

Alas the war is finally over
Everything seems to be falling into place
Soldier men no longer on our streets
No sounds of gun shot
A sigh of relief at last

Now I’m happily married
My wife is almost due
I’m in a state of euphoria

Arghhh fear is not over yet
Another war just broke out

I thought the war would be part of history
I would tell my children as tales of the past
Under the Sycamore tree at my backyard, I would tell those tales
Tales of how their father survived and struggled through the war

I vowed my children would enjoy childhood in its real sense
But it’s the case no more
They will have to live through the new war and perhaps become soldier boys.