Russell G. Robison

RIVER WAR

There was no retreat attempted
No quarter given there
Just a mutual exchange between
Two countries on a tear

Not one step back was taken
As each side spoke hard and clear
Won’t speak of conversations
Held inside that world of fear

I cut the kid in half that day
There was nothing else to do
He had us made, and his grenade
Was aimed at those I knew

No time to reconsider
No time to circumvent
I did just what I had to do
In that land of discontent

The look upon my face
Said it was best to let it be
I tried to keep from thinking
What was happening to me

So much for young and foolish
On that day the river bled
There are far too many faces etched
Inside my soul instead

We were all in it together
As each day we shared the load
‘Until the end, I’m here my friend’
Indeed that was our code

The quiet found at battles end
A silence I still hear
Just another rite of passage
In the land of sudden fear