He stood among his comrade peers
above the hails, beyond the jeers,
thoughts perplexed them as they heard
"has conscience vexed you? That's absurd!"
A vow, a promise made informed;
and so they stood well uniformed,
lawful orders, lawful ways
foreign borders, gunfire slays.
He stood among his comrade peers,
the song he sung became his fears;
"for where am I, where will I go;
what is the end, and who will know?"
All of this awash inside,
he stood among them, dressed in pride;
for country, duty, honor bound;
in conscience clean, a task profound.
Author notes
The reconciliation between humanity and soldiering must be made by any soldier in any uniform, that chore being performed is best visible on the faces of those performing it. Doesn't matter the uniform, it holds (or should hold) a human being inside it. For America, it must hold a human being inside it. When functioning properly, the soldier becomes a killing machine. For the American soldier, this is a most difficult thing to reconcile and settle in the mind, before the bullets fly, and people are dying. I see in the prompt picture new cadets who are facing strange concepts being explained to them, every one of them processing confusion, yet with determination.
A contest entry
- What does this picture mean to you? by Soft-Rain.
800 points, ended December 17, 2008, 15 entries
Bronze trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
-
Your last 3 lines were just a perfect way to end the poem. I liked yours a great deal. I think you did an excellent job
-
-
Thanks very much, and thanks especially to the soldiers.
-
Adding your comment:
