Douglas Bunger http://dbunger.tripod.com bunger@home.com

Ode To A Battle Robot
Douglas Bunger (c) 1991


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They were the last survivors
  of a lost platoon,
That had fought a battle
  on a far off planet's moon.

Their ranks had numbered forty
  on the day before,
But during the night's fighting
  all had died except these four.

They had tried to use the radio
  to call and ask for aide,
But to all their cries and pleas
  no attention had been paid.

There was no hope for rescue
  no way they would surrender,
They had heard of how the enemy
  enjoyed to torture and dismember.

In a war the soldier
  is nothing but a pawn,
And now these soldiers realized
  that they would die at dawn.

Nearly out of ammo
  their spacesuits low on air,
For the morning's battle
  the soldiers did prepare.

They stripped the dead of weapons
  and all their combat gear,
And stacked it by their foxholes
  so it would be near.

As the sun's first rays fell
  upon the desert sand,
The soldiers knew the battle
  would shortly be at hand.

With death so close upon them
  they felt a deep despair,
then they heard the retro-rockets
  pierce the twilight air.

They saw the pod descend
  and land to their rear,
And they knew that it meant
  that help was surely near.

Their spirits were renewed
  and as they turned to fight,
They saw the enemy coming
  in the red sunlight.

The first wave charged them
  running on six legs,
But the soldiers didn't fire
  they waited long instead.

They waited until they saw
  their yellow bug-eyes shine,
Then they opened fire
  and mowed down the line.

The second wave stood
  and returned their fire,
The soldiers' ammo was running low
  the situation was quite dire.

The enemy approached them
  for a close in fight,
When suddenly they realized
  their reinforcements were in sight.

It was not a platoon of men
  that arrived upon the scene,
But a single robot
  a ruthless killing machine.

The robot looked like a dinosaur
  that walked on its hind feet,
And as it moved its sensors searched
  for alien body heat.

When it found a creature
  its gun fired straight and true,
And as the laser hit the bugs
  apart their bodies blew.

The robot moved between the four
  and then it held its ground,
It moved only to protect them
  like a loyal hound.

The soldiers grabbed their bayonets
  and fought to stay alive,
The battle robot fired on and on
  through waves three, four, and five.

The laser beams went back and forth
  another man was hit,
But soon the bugs stopped charging
  and chose to call it quits.

The soldier's stood there viewing
  the carnage of the battle,
They turned, and to their surprise,
  the robot had laid down its rifle.

It moved to the fourth man
  lay dead upon the sand,
The soldiers watched the robot
  but did not understand.

The robot fell down on its knees
  and dug a shallow grave,
It gently buried the body
  of the man it did not save.

The soldiers watched the robot
  on that fateful afternoon,
Mourn a fallen comrade
  on a far off planet's moon.


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