Wanting To Know If I Am All Right? Poem by Gert Strydom

I dream about a helicopter
that is whining chattering
while I am shooting clattering
with the machinegun in the door

and in the dark night
I see tracers drawing lines
to down below
and see the enemy run
in the silver light
cast by the moon

and in the distance
a bolt of lightning falls
just past a place
were a torch hangs in the air
like a small sun

and it’s as if a rocket propelled grenade
zooms in from below,
brushes past
exploding behind us somewhere

and when I awake
I am still twitching next to you
and you touch me comforting
and want to know if I am all right?