War and Peace
Spring 2014 Vol. 30 #2
Spring 2014 Vol. 30 #2
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We used to laugh at him,
Staff Sergeant
Platoon Sergeant
The old crooked man with a lisp
who kept one eye open as he slept,
We all thought he was just crazy.
He said to us,
“Where do you think you’re goin’,
Hawaii? No, you’re goin’ into harm’s
way.”
He spoke very little about the invasion in 2003—
we watched as his eyes had changed,
They were not angry anymore
They were hurt
We never laughed after that
We listened and he
stopped yelling
We learned quickly
that if you are being taught how to fire
a weapon, how to clean a weapon,
how to carry a weapon in formation;
it is best to listen—
War is only the next place you may be
and shooting stars are not the only counts of death.
∞