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The Departure Back to Baghdad

Chaitanya Read-Walsh

 

I left everyone again for the second time
It was more painful than the first departure
I know what world I am going back to-
There are no illusions
No grand fantasies of combat
No moments which I could transform myself
Into a super hero
Baghdad creates more smoke
Reminds me how human I am
How vulnerable each part of me is-
To dirt
To heat
To the sun
To bombs
To gunfire
To brutality
To hostility
To water
To food
To time
To distance
To friends
To terrorists
To love
To fear
To God
To my leaders
To my environment
To my family
And to myself
I grip my pen like a steering wheel while my eyelids fall like anvils