Sent in this poem for a poetry competition at work and won. We had a choice of 3 pictures. I chose this

Call to Arms

They arrived with their batons and automatic guns
Screaming for us to surrender
Their faces betrayed any humanity
Shattered my peace and serenity

They murdered my family before my eyes
Did things you couldn’t imagine
And all the while they made me watch
Amused by my helpless reactions

Weak and disoriented they dragged me away
Chained like an animal for public display
They locked me in a windowless cell
God forbid that they have plans for me

Maybe being born was itself a crime
Or is it the colour of my skin
My pleas for mercy fall on ears of stone
Will justice ever be served me

My story is old
It’ll never be told
For no one will care when I am gone
It will be like I was never here

Propaganda of necessary violence
Enforced by the governments’ minions
Ethnic cleansing for a better world
The sanctity of life forgotten

For want of a soul, eternity was lost
A reckless daredevil, his honour sought
Stuttering flower dries on the spot
Entails sacrifice for extra time bought.

For races of strangers dangerously converged
Exchanging ideas that ultimately reversed
Cultural taboos the unity unmerged
Defending traditions, beliefs unheard.

She speaks from corners in a whisper
“Come accompany me to supper
Eat from the tree of forever
It’s all before you, dear lover.”

He considers, looks back and forth
His mind surrounded in a thicket caught
“Where have all my battles been fought?
Some unresolved, others in a single thought.”

Indulging darkest passions
Secrets drawn on opaque windows
Shutting out the sun

Written wills that bear past transgressions
Devious stares from grandmother’s blind
Fake encounters with the enemy
Come become your worst desires

Slithering and surging past abandon
Pursuing dreams that end in nigghtmares
Inviting every nameless hideousness
Feast till your heart’s content
And when it’s over start again

And when it arrives it feels like hell fire
Consuming every breath of life
Forget what you were at one time
Remember not to open your eyes

To focus and click
Is hardly a trick
But to capture the feel
That bears your own seal
Makes the image stick.

***************

She set out to blaze her own trail
Determined never to fail
Low wages can hurt
And leave you inert
Prevent you from putting to sail.

Nice, some suspense
Nib less fountain pens
Mind-wrenching enigmas
In the endless sugar-cane plantations

Call to the jungle man
“Where are the animals?”
Tarzan: Zoo.

Ahem, that doesn’t rhyme
Here’s some fresh thyme
For the soup
No need the root
Don’t touch the mute
Button
Whoot?