Soldiers and Crows

My daddy loaded his shotgun

To make the garden crows run

I'm just going to scare them away

“Let me shoot it once...”

Innocence trilling

My seven year old self did say

The boom of the gun was thrilling

And I had never thought of killing

The crows flew up and away

But later I saw Daddy carrying

Their lifeless bodies to the trash bin

Black wings flopping in the wind

And I thought to myself

Guns do kill...

Crows did die

And grown-ups sometimes lie

A neighbor boy down the street

Just the kind of guy girls wanted to meet

So handsome in his Army garb

He made their hearts all throb

He came home lifeless in a coffin

During Korea it happened often

And I thought how he had died

Wars kill...

Had the government lied?

Vietnam was far away

But it began to touch home

Soon lots of young soldiers were gone

Boys who had laughed when they left

But came home feeling so bereft

Just shadows of their former self

They watched their buddies die...

Because the government did lie

Afghanistan and Iraq...

Broken shells still coming back

Carrying images in their mind

That will not leave for all time

Some wished to die

And some made it so

Their gun was the way to go

Now the family cries...

And the government still lies

© November 24, 2009

Faye Sizemore

Mel’s family tragedy is heavy on my mind...

Hence these lines...