The General

The General stands at attention, West Point tall and straight Gazing upon row after row of white headstones On his shoulders lay the finality of their weight Sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, gone too soon Leaving families and friends staring at idle vacant rooms The General remembers John Carroll, dad to Ian and Cheryl Tucker Brown, Nicol Hood, David Yee, Linda Farrell And Bill Markham son of school teachers Bill and Carol Names and faces boomerang relentlessly inside his head As he wonders when if ever the list will ever end The General’s anguish as always is hidden from sight and sound Years of discipline and training keep his feelings internally bound He’ll issue exact and calculated battle orders knowing full well The inevitable consequences of his actions will take him into hell The General raises his arm in a perfect salute As he strains to keep his visage calm and resolute Hoping his appearance and poise reflect his affection and respect For his military family lost in battle to his sorrow and regret (And to whom he and America owe an unfathomable debt) Rifles fire, “Taps” resounds, each soldiers’ earthly debts unbound Brave soldiers now eternally asleep in hallowed ground Grieving, the General curses the consequences in what all wars abound He speaks to comrades denied life yet reborn in innocence absent sin “Listen up, Soldiers, as I affirm your value to country, kith and kin You were the best of our Nation’s assets, special and unique, We will mourn your absence with our every heartbeat For the brevity of your lives that war made incomplete I was Country proud to serve with you And Military proud to command you, too, I’m a better man and soldier having served in your behalf In God's Hands He’ll make sure you rest in peace at last”.