It Is Finished (Dream 2)

As I come up over the lip of the hill

I see it, spread out there, deep in a valley

From the foot of the hill to the far horizon

One great mass of humanity

Covering every square foot of ground

Swaying back and forth, in near silence

Their eyes are closed

Their arms remain slack

And their lips are tightly pursed

Their movement creates human waves

That slowly roll across the valley

From one side of the valley floor to the other

The only sound is a swooshing

Like the sound of a field of wheat

Moving to and fro in a gentle breeze

I am staggered by what lays before me

The sight sucks the air from my lungs

The sound rakes through my ears

Then I feel a wind begin to push me forward

I try to dig my heels in, to resist

But the wind seems to lift me off the ground

I begin to float down the slope

Toward the swaying mass below

I can't stop my drop and start to cry

I cry because I start to remember

I start to remember how I got here

And I start to realize where I am

I think I remember where I had been;

It was a place called;

Jamestown

Or was it Chapultepec?

Or maybe it was Fredericksburg

No, I think it was Wounded Knee

No, No, it was Belleau Wood!

Oh, that's not it!

Maybe it was Auschwitz

No I think it was the Yalu River

Or was it My Lai?

I know, It was Haditha!

God, I can't remember!

But, I do remember the blood!

And the smell!

And, oh God, I remember how it felt!

Oh God! I'm almost down!

I'm almost at the bottom!

I'm going to merge with the mass below!

Here it comes!

Here it is!

I'm here!

In desperation

Then resignation

And finally, dissolution

I dissolve into the mass of humanity

And begin to sway

With eyes closed, arms slack, and lips pursed

It is finished