Welcome To Tekong

The signs say Welcome to Tekong

As I enter through the harbor for the long week ahead.

I always thought the “L” on the sign was unnecessary.

The sign always read We Come To Tekong.

Role call early up as we march for breakfast,

Then we get into lines as the day ahead is scheduled.

We run, we jump and we pushed up and down

As tirades of names were berated on to us.

The usual was maggots

Maggots, you are nothing but maggots.

Hurry the fuck up you maggots.

We were the maggots of Gryphon Company.

Certainly felt like it as we scrubbed toilets for all the

Months that we were there.

It was their way to hope that we grew into flies and

Fly away.

In the months of We Come to Tekong,

We carried the weight of our world,

Marching aimlessly up and down hills

Waiting for that unknown enemy.

As the day goes by, the maggots dig

Into the soil, make shift cocoons (shallow graves)

The dirt our comfort for the night

We hugged the cold steel from our rifles

And we watched the stars like we never could

Molesting hands come to touch the cold steel

and take my rifle away.

The sound of thunder always means

A form of danger, the earth shakes from

The magnitude of the grenades that we throw

we earned our tanned skins, blood and tears

and lines as we toiled through sun and rain

these words fueling us maggots, no pain, no gain.

It still rings true when I see those signs as I enter the harbor.

It will always be We come to Tekong

For when the posters ring to us maggot grunts “Welcome To War”

That welcome is a lie.

When the war horns blow and we arm ourselves

We come to war.