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.

peoplefree verse

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