Assault Course

The shortest route from
Pain to pain
Is straight on through -
There is no
Long way round
To avoid the wall -
You must burst it or
Blast it, break it and
Crawl on through
Never over, ignore the
Cuts and bruises, the scores, just
Reach the other side
By going in
And hope the terrain is
New and wide, brightly-lit,
All good and true.
Then I have you - my friend
And enemy you park
Your tank at my back
And wait and see if I survive
The next assault course
You have devised.
Do they never end
Even in a no-man's land
All barbed and quiet?
There I may find
Myself lying on the
Ground that I can
Pick up with and run
To be all woman-sun
Outwith your prison
Days of courses and
Walls, Thomasina-guns:
All your hell's
Trials.  Oh yes -
I will be free when
I get there.  I promise.
That new territory
I can live within
Will be my own.  No more
Soldiering, no more
Army.  Gun and pack
Down I will be
Disarmingly me.

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