The White War (Prose Poem)

I opened my eyes to see an everlasting stretch of white snow till the eye could see. Its shine like that off a diamond.

The desolate ground was home to just me.

Nothing could be seen above in the grey-darkened abyss. No bird, no sound, no movement stirred around me.

I had just been walking through the ever-so-green park in Koln. The blue skies all around, the sound of church bells from the cathedral rang in my ears like a song.

The happiness was abundant with every person that passed by. Trees with blossoms as if they were their own color.

Not here though.

Here there is nothing. I am alone and lost.

The silence became a piercing sound.

I walk aimlessly searching for something that I do not know what for.

White consumes me.

I try and speak yet I am a silent mouse.

The silence is then broken, enormous noise surrounds me like the waves on the ocean.

Coming from my right, then coming from my left. Alternating from my front to my back. Increasing in speed.

I crouch in thinking I am protecting myself as though there is nothing but white. No object to fall under or behind. No source can be found of the strident clamor.

And as fast as the sound came upon me, it diminished into an unknown void.

I remain clenching my ears like that of a newborn and his mother. My eyes closed like glue. 

I wait as if more will come. And it did.

This time colors. With the sound coming first, a bright flash of light like the sun proceeding. Blinding and illuminating the snow.

Yellows, oranges, reds all burst into the air. At times the light itself was blinding.

Smoke began to rise around me like a disease. Coughing into the air unable to cover my mouth as I am already covering my ears.

And yet again, as fast as it had came, the din collapsed.

My mind goes blank, I can think of nothing. My mind is white, my soul is empty and I am immersed in fear as if the world had come to its very end. And it did.

I bring myself to look, to open my eyes. I begin to stand after being crouched for so long. Now all I see is grey, grey smoke in every direction.

My eyes are open, but I still remain blind like that of a newborn.

Waiving my hands to steer the smoke away I see it.

I become ill, my stomach churns, my hands quiver, my feet stuck to the snow.

Koln Cathedral stands erect. Its enormous beauty stands tall like a champion.

And I fall to my knees as the snow diminishes, color begins to emerge, and I see what has become of this land.

All buildings destroyed. Grey and black my eyes see as bodies lay flat, motionless and dismembered.

The only thought or feeling in my body and mind was fear. And just as I had seen the devastation of the park and homes and trees and lives, I was back.

The green grass, the joyous people. The warm summer air. The peace.

Was that a dream? What have I seen? Where did I go?

And my ears stood in amazement as I heard the voice.

My homeland, my Germany, was to be under him. And in that place I realized my doom, my live stripped from me and so many others like in a slaughter house.

The white death would come, and I was never the same.