Carrion Poem by Gert Strydom

a Enemy soldier lies motionless
and his limbs are twisted,
reaching for the last
energy of live
and a hand still holds a gun.

Blood and guts
are splattered about,
where a mortar bomb
hit home
and some flies gather.

The strong sulphur smell
mixed with fried human
burns my nose,
where smoke rises
from a shot out
enemy battle tank.

Another tank stand moveless
with its barrel
still aiming somewhere
and the remains
of its occupants hatched inside.

About a hundred Cuban tanks
and twice that much
enemy armoured cars,
stand lifeless in the African bush.

The battle scene is a graveyard
and my Ratel tank destroyer drives past,
to cross the Lomba river.

Before nightfall I fight
the darkness of my soul
and struggle with God
and to this day,
still no one can answer why.

[References: = Ratel tank destroyer=Ratel ZT-3 (the anti-tank guided missile version) . Reference are given here to the “battle for Africa, ” fought by 61 South African mechanized battalion group and 32 South African battalion group against four brigades of the Soviet-led FAPLA forces (the 47th,59th,16th and 21st brigades) in Angola in August 1987.]