Tom's Latest book,  available now ! In Paperback £5.99 (GBP) or ebook download £2.99 (GBP)
Preview or purchase from:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/im-a-soldier-get-me-out-of-here/6742572


' I'm a Soldier... get me out of here ! '
Published April 2009

A second superb collection of modern Military poetry, by ex-British Forces Soldier, Tom Mcgreevy.

 Once again, sadness, humour, love, and the ' Tell it like it is ' ( Warts and all ) style of writing that Tom is known for.  A must have book to follow on from Tom's first book, published June 2008  'Poems for Paula'

Once again Tom's book is published by ' Rossendale Books, UK '

 To see the cover in Large PDF ( Interactive ) Format,  go to page ' View Toms PDF Docs '

Tom Mcgreevy whilst serving on attachment to The United Nations in Cyprus

 A selection of Poems from Tom's Latest book:

' I'm a Soldier...get me out of here ! '

SOLDIER FOR HIRE



Don’t let me die like this
Don’t let me die alone
Bleeding out and paralysed
A thousand mile from home


A mercenary I’d become
An answer to an ‘ Ad ‘
Missing military life
A ‘ Civvy ‘ going mad


No jobs for former soldiers
With killing as their trade
The tools of their employment
The rifle and the blade


So eagerly I ‘ snapped it up ‘
A dangerous job abroad
‘ Adrenalin ‘ kicking right back in
Ignore the things I’d heard


I’d thought that I was ‘ bullet proof ‘
‘ Not me mate, I’m to fast ‘
I only lasted two short weeks
Those words could be my last


I lie here bleeding in the dust
My body feels no pain
My eyes the only thing to move
No signals to my brain


My neck is broke, I know that now
The shrapnel tore right through it
The mine exploding near me
‘Twas then I knew I’d ‘ Blew it ‘


My comrades fighting as they ran
They left me there for dead
Alone upon the battlefield
A crater for my bed


I ‘ think ‘ a silent prayer inside
My lips refuse to speak
I need someone to hold my hand
My future’s looking bleak


Someone notice, someone look
I’m not a piece of meat
Just say a kindly word to me
My Maker then I’ll meet


A bird lands on my shattered limb
It’s pecking at my leg
Through torn and blood-soaked combats
It’s then I ‘ think ‘ to beg


I’m forced to watch this gruesome feast
I cannot close my eyes
My eyelids they have burnt away
I stare toward the skies


‘ God help me now ‘ I ‘ think ‘ inside
Although I don’t believe
It’s funny how you turn to God
Religion you retrieve


My silent prayer is answered
My mind is fading fast
A soldier on the stage of life
Departing from the cast


My life it ‘ whirls ‘ before me
I don’t have no regrets
My end comes as a soldier
Back here amongst ‘ The Vets ! ‘



***

‘ CONTACT, WAIT OUT ‘



‘ Big bird, big bird, hot zone ‘
I scream into the mike
Can’t let the chopper land here
And let the enemy strike


Not fair to put their lives at risk
It’s bad enough our own
Fifteen British soldiers
Ambushed and alone


‘ Helmand Province ‘ we were told
Was quiet this dark night
‘ Patrol the eastern valley,
Till early morning light ‘


Then came the first explosion
‘ Big Jimmy ‘ taken out
Walking proud one minute
He was our best lead scout


‘ Zero, this is Bravo-three,
Contact, hit, wait out ‘
I scream into my radio
So much noise I shout


‘ Gormless Eddie ‘ next man down
Hit by one stray round
Though heavily outnumbered
He stood and fought his ground


‘ Medic, Medic ‘ came the shout
A screaming comrade dying
A medic crying for himself
He died by me whilst trying


We were going down like flies
An ambush perfect set
Caught out in the open
No cover we could get


‘ Chippy, Chalky, Half-pint ‘
They went down one by one
By then I’d just stopped counting
My mind switched off and gone


This was my nineteenth birthday
My last year as a teen
A battle hardened soldier
Such horrors I have seen


To watch your best friends blown apart
Their blood, and limbs, and bone
The nightmares of the battlefield
I just want to go home


Nine young soldiers lost that night
Though some of us survived
Four were badly wounded
But six of us alive


And in the next day’s papers
Small paragraph’s re-formed
‘ Nine brave soldiers lost their lives,
Next-of-kin informed ! ‘



***

CAPTURED

 

Captured by ‘ The Taliban ‘
Locked up in this cell
Kicked and tortured daily
This has become my Hell


They think they have me beaten
I cry and plead ‘ Okay ‘
But all the time I’m thinking
Of ways to make them pay


My fingernails are torn
My bruises red and sore
They’ve knocked the stuffing out of me
My Spirit lives no more


Why don’t they come and rescue me ?
They must know that I’m here
Or have they give me up for dead ?
It’s that alone I fear


Escape is now beyond me
To weak to even walk
They’ve stitched my lips together
I cannot even talk


I’ll die alone inside this cell
With no-one here to tell
No headstone for the Mourners
Of where this Soldier fell


My captors have grown tired of me
Today they’ll take my life
‘ Missing, killed in action ‘
That’s what they’ll tell my wife


She won’t know any different
They will not tell her more
Not how I died in ‘ Rags and filth ‘
My vomit on the floor


My only weapon now I use
My captors to confuse
I stretch a huge grin on my face
I’ve nothing left to lose


My killer looks bewildered
His blade held to my throat
And when he draws it back and forth
My eyes at him they gloat


So I have had this Victory
He’ll dream of me each night
He’s killed a ‘ Smiling ‘ Soldier
Who’d lost the will to fight


My smile will stay inside his head
As long as he shall live
Until he goes to meet his God
This scene he will relive



***

ANOTHER BORING NIGHT IN BELFAST



‘ Q ‘ cars painted yellow
Next week painted red
Have to keep then guessing
Or we’d end up dead


Driving through the ‘ Falls ‘
Two-up in the car
Following ‘ The hit-men ‘
Heading for the bar


Every night for one long week
Their pattern stayed the same
The ‘ hit-team ‘ going in the pub
They’re playing deadly games


But not tonight, they drive on past
A quick change in their habit
Are they on the mission,
Or just out shooting rabbit ?


The ‘ Divi’s Flats ‘ sweep by us
The ‘ Dickers ‘ on the street
We follow at some distance
Peering through the sleet


We check our ammunition
The magazines are full
We place our pistols on our knees
This night is not so dull


We head out of the City
Past homes in leafy lanes
Into the Lisburn suburbs
where no one here complains


A lonely house their target
No street lights down this path
The occupants oblivious to
The coming Gunman’s wrath


The ’ Hit team ’ knock upon the door
Their pistols drawn ready
They don’t hear us behind them
Our pistols aimed and steady


Two rounds in the gunmen’s backs
Two double-taps then follow
The blood flows from between their lips
They had no time to swallow


Then silently we leave there
As quiet as we came
Two bodies left outside the door
Two pawns lost to the game


The R.U.C will come soon
They’ll know what we have done
But blind eyes will be turning
‘ The Det ‘ has been and gone


They will take the credit
The praise they will collect
For saving someone’s life tonight
Ignore us, I suspect !


We didn’t come for ‘ Glory ‘
We’re told ‘ Don’t shoot to kill ‘
But we’re not Politicians
So justice we instil


We drive back to the City
Another ‘ op ‘complete
And live to fight another day
The silent ones, ‘ elite ! ‘



***

Tom's first book, published by Rossendale Books UK, and available from:

http://lulu.com/content/2641854



 

Tom, top left, during ' The Troubles ' in Northern Ireland

( click on image to enlarge )