when you saw, you saw
that there was no sudden wait
no sudden long wait, not for you
no sudden sensations, no men lost in waves
you saw that it was all illusion
for it was all one

when you realized, the sun pried open your eyes
and the smoke rolling off the guns all morning and night
you saw no light nor night nor children nor soldiers
why every time you raised your hand
through you, the world pulled your fingers
for it was all one

when you knew you had to act
it was like the crack of the M-60
nothing meant nothing
you knew you had to act
angry or calm, like the roaring blasts in baghdad
and the moon balanced in the sky
angry and calm, there was no red sunrise
for it was all one

when you worried about the way it was
then it was the way it was because it was
and your thoughts sought some justification
like notes in isolation
from the inside there are symbols on the rim; from the outside
it is all one

how can you decide;
you cannot decide, her decision is through you
you wake in the morning and her touch is through you
you a lone man in the great desert's sands
her hands guide you; all in all
and all in one.

and yet still you sought some haven
some refrain from the relentless visions
the dead, the maimed, the pain
no explanation came and you fell
thirsting, with no water
in the desert's hands, her hands

and the world fell away
thoughts like wires bent, savannahs of grass
and you woke to the chopper above you
your brothers ran to give you water
and helped you back to the plane
from the outside, it was all one
from the inside, they were your brothers

they were different
it is for you that they came.

 - "Baghdad," Connelly Barnes, 2007-06-02.