Notes:
1. jess = jesse bush = thorny bushwillow - Combretum celastroides
2. ouen = troopie/mate/friend/comrade


Death of a boy in thick jess
by Chris Cocks

An ouen took a round in the throat that day
In the winter of ’77
In single file he was leading the way
On terrain that was rough and uneven

The horse flies were biting, the jesse bush tore
At our jump suits, our webbing and skin
Our camo cream ran, the sweat was a whore
In our eyes and our cuts it got in

The point man was yanking at creepers and vines
Visibility was down to a yard
The air was so thick, ambush played on our minds
Moving forward was so f###ing hard

Gunfire erupted to the front and the side
As we crashed to the earth seeking cover
AKs were cracking, with nowhere to hide
As a gunship came into the hover

Then our gunner came up, a hundred-round belt
On his gun he drummed out his tattoo
He blasted those f###ers right back into Hell
His aim straight and low and so true

The gunship was firing, the dust and the smoke
And the cordite were burning our eyes
Our point man was down, feebly clutching his throat
Blood gurgling and sputum and flies

The gunship withdrew to the stick leader’s screams
As the silence of death crept around
Almost incidental, for that’s what it seems
An ouen was now dead on the ground

In single file he’d been leading the way
On terrain that was rough and uneven
A boy took a round in the throat that day
In the winter of ’77


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