HE DIED A SOLDIER

He died a soldier


a night so sullen
  hours so sudden
a night so silent
  hope so distant

she lit the candle
'n she felt the touch of life
within her lay gloom in bundle
'n she felt the bitter strife

she looked up
up the wall

her eyes sore
her heart weary
her soul beaten
her hope withered

she looked at him
   deep in the eyes
she looked at him
    deep in the heart

what a graceful lad
what an apt lad
what a happy lad
he had been

playing in the summer sun
building castles by the shores
making snowmen in winter
but all had puffed away
no premonition
no warning

the howling winds had blown
'n with them, he had gone
far away to the lands unknown
'n she was left to cry with the moon

days had dragged into aeons
season after season
stretch after stretch
w/out him
life seemed to have clogged

lonely nights
she laid awake
pray to God
her soul to take

when she heard the knock
she thought herself a dream

four loyal men
dressed up in state suits
gloom dancing in their eyes

the message was bitter
a bitter aloe to the injury
could she elude it
no,
the pill had to be swallowed

a son she had lived to heart
he had gone once
but now he was gone forever
they said he was a patriot
but she didn't understand
her son had died in the field
where he had lived to serve the nation
her son, had died a solider

_almasi_