Sand In My Eyes



I'm standing in the sand where Jesus stood and taught

This is not his message, nor the world he sought

Lord, I need your blessing to get back home again

But I can't help feeling what I've done is a sin

 
It's three a.m. out here, but yesterday back home

Is she still there waiting, or does her eye now roam?

Do I fight for freedom, or for freedom to fight

How many wrongs will make what we do here right

 
The nights are so cold, the days are so hot

I'm living in a land that time has forgot

 My enemies all look so much like my friends

This was never how I wanted life to end

  

We grab our gear to make our patrols once more

Chaplain always sends us all out with a prayer

Humvees with bullet holes covering their doors

The smell of paint and death permeates the air

 
Is that a Bedouin beggar I see here?

Or a young boy with a bomb in hand?

I hate seeing the eyes that show people's fear.

I close my eyes and dream of my land.

 
Between life and death lies a very thin line

There's no way to tell when it's your time

There's no way to tell the tears from the sand

For certain when you die in another man's land

 
What's on my face may look like tears

But you know that's just a lie

Soldiers don't show pain or fear

It's just the sand in my eyes

 

About this poem

A soldier contemplates his life.

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Written on April 18, 2014

Submitted by lubigibbons on January 09, 2022

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:39 min read
45

Quick analysis:

Scheme A A X X B B C C D D X X X E X E X F G F X X F F X X G X
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,305
Words 317
Stanzas 28
Stanza Lengths 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1

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    "Sand In My Eyes" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/119740/sand-in-my-eyes>.

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