Poet Soldiers

The child turned to his future asking what am I to be a poet or a soldier who shall make this choice for me am I to lead or am I to follow what is my destiny the child suddenly felt a whisper flow through his very being you may choose what you shall be but hear this moment well from this heartbeat on you alone decide your legacy Hannibal and Burns not so different than you or me one shared his words with the world the other took all that he could see every man writes his own history before he is laid to rest a soldier and a poet each one mere flesh and bone both shall surely perish as mortals each chooses their own battlefield a soldier shields himself with armour a poet is protected by his truth a soldier may wage fear because he can the poet builds with words and belief one yields a sword as a weapon the other draws a landscape with prose the soldier lives to follow orders a poet hears the wind a soldier takes by force the poet bestows imagination one seeks the spoils of war the other merely time to think one grants conditions of surrender the other will shares his daily bread a soldier may cross to a new frontier the poet traverses galaxies one occupies a country the other captivates the mind one sees sunrise as time to march on the other to kneel and give thanks the child then chose where his journey would take him bidding farewell to his days of innocence bowing humbly to the vast sea in his heart he took in a mighty wave whispering share this journey with me Irish Qualicum Bay 2008