UNBROKEN a Poem

UNBROKEN:

The plane rises into the air,

A B-24, with around 11 men in its lair.

Until, its engine starts to stall,

Its nose starts to drop and fall.

Plummeting towards the Pacific sea

Its survivors would only equal three.

The sickening sound as it starts to sink,

As gulps of air, crewmen try to drink.

The three aimlessly drift for weeks on end,

Just Mac and Phil, plus Louie their friend.

Birds, to catch and sharks to battle,

While on and on Louie and Phil prattle.

47 days do they drift,

Only in the end to receive imprisonment, as a gift.

The once Olympic runner is all but skin and bones.

Soon to be pelted with sticks and stones.

From camp to camp,

Until he meets hell’s tramp.

Nicknamed “The Bird”, for his ravenous beatings

Louie would soon know torture’s greetings.

Crack upon crack,

The belt and cane across the back.

Months at death’s door,

Wondering how he could take much more.

A breathing Skelton was all that was left,

While guards gorged of treats, such horrid theft!

Till at last a single Allied plane flew overhead,

To give supplies to the living dead.

However, the war was not done,

He would have to fight his own soul, although the global war was won.

But through the thick and thin,

A Light shown in, and only by that Light,

Could Louie win.

A still drowning man, hoping for an escape,

And only by Love, could Louie get His soul into shape.

Unlike the plane, a Hand reached down, and pulled away the bars,

The Hand rescued him, although it bore scars.

The hand gently held Louie’s heart, to wash away the pain,

It softly started cleaning away the war’s stains.

And through it all, a new man came forth,

One that had been given a second chance,

One that had been given second birth.