“Soldiers”

On the front they stood, The bravest of young men.
Sacrificing family and their dreams, Foreshadowing their own death.
One young boy lies in the trench, trembling with fear.
Until suddenly he sees the sniper, Like a hawk with poise.
And his brother unaware, Like the rat on the forest floor.
All those memory’s of childhood, Of skittles and neighborhood skirmishes
Snatched away by this outside evil, This incompassionate sub-human.

He stands and runs for him, But his legs are too weak with fear,
And he falls in the mud, Hand outstretched to help his friend.
When he stumbles by his side, He realizes that he is already dead.
So much joy taken from him, And an ocean of feeling crashes upon him.
Instinct drives us all, And so to he, He takes his friend on his shoulders,
And calls for the medic.
But none are there, save for the medical station a mile behind the line.
He carries him to the station, but it is long too late.
Slowly he takes the letter from his friends bloodstained breast pocket,
and  observes the note.
To his surprise, It’s not for his family, But rather for him, And he opens
the letter and takes it in.
The letter had only 10 words printed,
“You tried your best brother, that’s
all you could do”.

This is the poem that my son Blair wrote after having
visited the Arlington Memorial Cemetery. Thank you once again for the chance
to have his work placed among the many other works of your site.

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard