PTSD (May contest)

Sitting in this gritty hell
sandbags piled around fox hole
as rising moon begins to swell.
I'm dug in like a great big mole.

Not far away sit some good friends
they are about as safe as me
hoping we'll have peaceful ends.
I wish I could see just one tree.

Suddenly a fiery line
leaps out from a nearby dune
then explodes ending its flight's whine.
Peaceful vigil ends too soon.

Blurs of men glimpsed in the dark
as the attack begins in earnest
They come in flickers like a snark
their bayonets are sharp and burnished.

And the noise the deafening noise
explosions, gunfire, torn men's screams
bodies tossed about like toys
reality lost so it seems.

Then a fire trail in the night
ends nearby where friends are firing back.
I can't turn from the gory sight
of limbs flying through the black.

And my finger fires again
no idea if rife hits
anyone who killed my friend.
I yearn to tear the foe to bits.

Then suddenly another missile trail
coming toward, no right at me
among bullets striking thick as hail
as a ball of fire engulfs me............

I waken to my own scream's sound
panting in a sweat soaked bed.
looking for enemy all around
seeing just the night instead.

They say that time will dull the dreams
but nothing will quiet dead men's screams.