Only Boys
ONLY BOYS
I saw today Russian sailor cadets,
All in forbidding black uniforms
And black fur hats. Twenty,
Walking through the city to their barracks -
Out-of-step for it wasn’t a parade -
But still in column-of-twos.
In the metro they milled around one end
Of the carriage very politely.
Like a small herd of furry
Domesticated creatures, well-trained.
Next year they will be on an aircraft carrier
In the Gulf, in harm’s way;
Or on guard in a submarine
A thousand feet below the arctic ice-cap.
But they were just boys really -
Every one some Russian mother’s son.
Copyright © Sidney Beck | Year Posted 2011
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