-
THE MONSTERS AND THE WEAK
-
-
-
We
Are All That Stands
Between
-
The Monsters And The
Weak
The sun beat like a
hammer,
-
not a cloud was in the
sky.
The mid-day air ran
thick with dust,
-
my throat was parched
and dry.
-
With microphone
clutched tight in hand
-
and cameraman in tow,
I ducked beneath a
fallen roof,
-
surprised to hear, "Stay
low."
My eyes blinked several
times
-
before in shadow I could
see,
The figure stretched
across the rubble,
-
just
steps away from me.
-
He wore a cloak of
burlap strips,
-
all shades of grey and
brown,
That hung in tatters
till he seemed
-
to melt into the ground.
He never turned his
head
-
or took his eye from off
the scope,
But pointed through the
broken wall
-
and down the rocky
slope.
-
"About eight hundred
yards," he said,
-
his whispered words
concise,
"Beneath the baggy
jacket
-
he is wearing a device."
A chill ran up my
spine
-
despite the swelter of
the heat,
"You think he's gonna
set it off
-
along the crowded
street?"
-
The sniper gave a weary
sigh and said,
-
"I wouldn't doubt it,"
"Unless there's
something this old gun
-
and I can do about it."
A thunderclap, a tongue
of flame,
-
the still abruptly
shattered;
While citizens that
walked the street
-
were just as quickly
scattered.
-
Till only one remained,
-
a body crumpled on the
ground,
The threat to oh,
-
so many ended by a
single round.
And yet the sniper had
no cheer,
-
no hint of any gloat,
Instead he pulled a
logbook out
-
and quietly he wrote.
-
"Hey, I could put you
on TV,
-
that shot was quite a
story!"
But he surprised me
once again --
-
"I got no wish for
glory."
"Are you for real?" I
asked in awe,
-
"You don't want fame or
credit?"
He looked at me with
saddened eyes and said,
-
"I guess You just don't
get it.
-
You see that shot-up
length of wall,
-
the one without a door?
Before a mortar hit,
-
it used to be a grocery
store.
"But don't go thinking
that to bomb a store
-
is all that cruel,
The rubble just across
the street --
-
it used to be a school.
-
The little kids played
soccer
-
in the field out by the
road."
His head hung low,
-
"They never thought a
car would just explode.
"As bad as all this is
though,
-
it could be a whole lot
worse."
He swallowed hard, the
words came
-
from his mouth just like
a curse.
-
"Today the fight's on
foreign land,
-
on streets that aren't
my own,"
"I'm here today 'cause
if I fail,
-
the next fight's back at
home."
"And I won't let my
Safeway burn,
-
my neighbors dead
inside,
Don't wanna get a call
from school
-
that says my daughter
died.
-
I pray that not a one
of them
-
will know the things I
see,
Nor have the work of
terrorists
-
etched in their memory."
"So you can keep your
trophies
-
and your fleeting bit of
fame,
I don't care if I make
the news,
-
or if they even speak my
name."
-
He glanced toward the
camera
-
and his brow began to
knot,
"If you're looking for
a story,
-
why not give this one a
shot."
"Just tell the truth of
what you see,
-
without the slant or
spin;
That most of us are OK
-
and we're coming home
again.
-
And why not tell our
folks back home
-
about the good we've
done,
How when they see
Americans,
-
the kids come at a run."
"You tell 'em what it
means to folks here
-
just to speak their
mind,
Without the fear that
tyranny
-
is just a step behind.
-
Describe the desert
miles they walk
-
in their first chance to
vote,
Or ask a soldier if
he's proud,
-
I'm sure you'll get a
quote."
He turned and slid the
rifle
-
in a drag bag thickly
padded,
Then looked again with
eyes of steel
-
as quietly he added.
-
"And maybe just remind
the few,
-
if ill of us they speak,
That we are all that
stands between
-
"THE MONSTERS AND THE
WEAK".
