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Bright White Light (poem)

By Larry Kerschner

backs to the white bright light
young men wearing goggles
a boy soldier among many
dug into the Nevada desert
sand scoured grey mesquite
secure the area
following orders
he knew no
Korea no
Vietnam no
his was an Eisenhower
time of piece

now his Auschwitz eyes in sunken sockets
this atomic vision
shadowed him
these twenty-five years
sallow grey
against white sheets
death fetid breath
stomach gone to gastric cancer
100 milligrams of morphine each hour
bring
a time of peace

dying
he spoke briefly
of a bright white light