similar wars

another war ending

more guilty feelings for not

being able to pick up a gun

grenade or flamethrower

or salvaging, saving

a photograph, a last letter home

some part of speech was lost

in this war

less protest than that one

where we may have put a daisy

in a gun barrel

and said “ make love, not war”

or as easily, cursed the soldier

surely the feelings are different now

my reluctance hardly balances

your willingness

my comfort weighs lightly

on your sacrifice

my desire for self-preservation

is too thin a veil to obscure your courage

my inability to know what I might die for

can not diminish your steadfast belief

that you were doing the right thing

yet, at the end, I am here alive

while you are a number

on another list of those lost to war

another name on a stone or steel memorial

who can say thank you, now

and have it mean anything

to your family, to anyone

conscripted or enlisted or not

does it matter whether this war

was any more necessary than that war

will it matter

if your death or my life was in vain

Barry DeCarli

Ferrisburgh, VT

December, 16-18, 2011

November 11, 2014

Copyright 2014 Barry DeCarli