I See You -- by Bohdan Sirant, 2011 I see you Just as I come around the curve As a bulky black shape

Like an unexpected body bag Lying on the shoulder I fleetingly flashback to A stark woman in a dark burka Signaling frantically for help In the wrong place At the wrong time Perhaps a bomb-clad decoy To get us to slow down or stop On that deserted death-dealing stretch She was struck by our convoy As it rolled on (There was no thought of stopping It was too risky IEDs and ambushes, you know) And just left there for dead A cloaked lump with bare legs twitching Lying by the side of a dusty road --Except I know you are not her I am back home And this is now Yes, that was then And this is now I know this is not a diversion To ambush me I know you are not booby-trapped Even though I am adrenalized And feel my heart racing I breathe deeply Then I hold my breath I slow down and stop to look anyway I slowly and cautiously climb out Reflexively look for a wire Or something unusual And look up at the wheeling ravens Toward the commanding heights Of granite cliff and ridge tops Looking for good cover Behind those mossy boulders Up on that heavy branch At the opening in the shadowy bush

Or by the thick white pine trunks Looking from left to right All the way around What am I really looking for ? Slinking snipers Sneaking gunmen Or skulking spotters? No, there is no stealthy foe here More likely a curious marten or wary woodchuk I now look down. Your big black nose Your exquisitely evolved olfactory guidance system Two thousand times better than mine-Is pressed against the new cedar guard rail post That your burly right paw embraces I throw a stone at you But it bounces off As if from a burnt stump or scorched log No movement --rigor mortis had set in Your flesh is stiff and set hard And the glossy black fur Of your big round ears Shimmers in the cool morning breeze Stains and splatter, like spilled raspberry juice, Since dried up, tell the story I can see where it first pooled Over the yellow stripes I see the long bloody drag marks You tried to pull and claw your way back To the safety of these lush and dense woods To your hunting grounds, home and haven Intersected here by this narrow But dangerous two-laned ribbon Of leveled and ashphalted so-called civilization Where they wont stop for you You made it only as far as the pebbled shoulder Perhaps you could have been saved If there had been a medic Or a decent vetaround But probably not Too bad you couldnt understand that This road, which was but a clearing for you, Was always dangerousvery dangerous Just like the road back there Was deadly for her, And a living nightmare for me