I had stood so many times mouth watering
Still hungry from so little food
I know I had eaten more than Momma
She had given me as much as she could
And like in the garden of Eden
The trees there laden with tempting fruits
We were told never ever to go there
It was such a dangerous place
It was a morning still so fresh in my memory
I had woken with terrible hunger pains
Temptation had got the better of me
And hunger pushed sense from my brain.
I had watched the dogs of our village
They had roamed through this area so green
And had gobbled up all of the fallen fruit
No harm ever coming to them
On this oh so ordinary morning
I crept out and entered through barbed wire
The hunger made me sure footed
Through the long grass without care
Gathering as much fruit as I could carry
Even bit into a mango juicy and sweet
With my shirt used as a sack for carrying
I returned many times gathering more
Every journey retracing previous foot marks
Successfully cheating the menace below
The people of our village would feast today
I had succumbed to the adrenalin flow
On the fifth journey I pledged final
I heard a click beneath my bare foot
The next thing I remember was hospital
My stunned family all gathered around
Sitting outside our hut in bright sun light
Looking down to where my legs once were
And I stare over to the place they call Eden
And think of the deadly crop still sown there.
Now thirty years since the war ended
Since the mines so common were sowed
It was supposed to be protection for us
But endless suffering is all it has caused.