Night Patrol

T'was AO Margaret ten clicks out from the base.
At the briefing, they said it was a fairly safe place.
But those Int reports, you never could trust.
So staying alert was a definite must.
We got to the spot and settled in for the night,
Checking our perimeter was closed in real tight.
This arduous duty, it had to be borne,
All through the night, till first light of dawn.
Time passes slowly and the night is so still.
Staying alert takes all of your skill.
2am, feeling drowsy now and almost asleep.
But I must stay awake, this virgil to keep,
My mates to protect, sleeping back at the base.
If I failed them now, I could never look in their face.
Then, suddenly a loud crash in the night,
Rifle to shoulder, I'm ready to fight.
No enemy I see, but I find instead,
My rifle is aimed at my radio ops head.
What caused that crash, the noise I just heard?
Then out of the scrub comes a small feathered bird.
With shaking hands I lower my rifle.
To take a mans life is no mere trifle.
I think of that soldier from day to day,
And I often wonder what he would say,
If only he knew, just how close he came,
To being another statistic in life's deadliest game.

©Lee O'Neill 25 June 1998