Seamless Patches - 1,9,16

‘Sewing machine, long idle, gathered dust’ frozen in stitch by a “toy soldiers rust.”* Time remembers the scent of his hair, the fold of the clothes as she left them there. He was sampling youth when the bugle blew a boy knowing nothing he thought he knew answered the call of a nation’s need denying the truths that soldiers bleed. ‘The war years seemed like only yesterday’ as he wandered, tattered, in disarray, lost in the grip of a chevron’s cold stain each breath sadly humming death’s cold refrain. Threads of his life unraveled by peace scent of fresh cloth, destroyed, out of reach his life ebbed away, a flickering spark, ’The candle sputtered, spent, and all was dark’ ©4/14/2018 *reference to poem “LITTLE BOY BLUE” by Eugene Field submitted to – One nine and sixteen – Poetry Contest sponsor – Viv Wigley