One Dead Soldier

 

One Dead Soldier

By James Rodney Moorer

 

“Ashes to Ashes

Dust to Dust

This one’s dead

Ceremony’s done

Let’s get on the bus”

 

I was reminded of my time on Funeral Detail

As I turned the bottle on its side

and placed the cap gingerly on top

one dead soldier I thought.

 

Flag folded neatly into a triangle

with great precision

humble words spoken to a widow

soon to be forgotten by a grateful nation

 

We practiced for their death, as we knew surely someday they would die,

as we all would in a home where no one visited or from wounds suffered in some nondescript action the news media failed to report on DomRep ‘69 or could it have been 61?

 

Or from some disease too terrible to mention caught from some w***e in a distant land or in a jungle in Panama, the result is the same.

We were sharp, those of us who didn’t go or get the call

 

Salute raised ever so slow

‘Please accept this flag on behalf of a grateful nation....’

To a widow who didn’t always grasp the concept of what that life entailed, only that the dearly departed or so the preacher said was being laid to rest in someplace nobody ever heard of with full military honors, rifles full of blanks, 21 gun salute given.

Taps played on cassette at the end a shortage of buglers I’m told.

We’d carry the casket out of the hearse draped in the flag of a grateful nation.

 

Dead soldiers do not weigh much,

Caskets, however, are heavy.

Stand at attention and do not look at the widow who is young and comely and may need a little extra comfort cause you see it out of the corners of your eyes that looked straight ahead. Training is everything, noticing keeps you alive, for a time.

 

The ride back is long, quiet. In my bag there is another soldier

I crack the top and drink long from his life.

Soon his helmet will be placed over him too.

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

I know the feeling of this poem. I been to and part of many funeral of Soldiers in my 15 years in the Army. Poem told a real story. Thank you for sharing. A outstanding story.
Coyote

[D. Pesek]

"Ashes to Ashes,
Dust to Dust,
This one's dead,
Ceremony's done,
Let's get on the bus"

that was the best way to start this poem, well done!

[Salvatore Buttaci]

This, my friend, is the best war poem I ever read! You are a first-class wordsmith!

[Markymark]

Morbid Chalimo. I know that detail. Handing the spent cartridges to the deceased's loved ones.....learning to look somber and unhuman, fighting empathy, standing rigid, stoic....but the tears are inside you. I know that detail.



Good write....thanks

Markymark

[Ed Hart]

death visited and visited and visited...how can you ignore the dead, the greaving, the horrible routine of it...over and over, until the coldness of it says, "come, have a drink, let's put another one to rest." poetry just goes everywhere...

[BEEGE]

This was deep man.
So well written that I thought I
was at one of my brothers funeral for
a minute. I personally pray that me and my
brothers come home safe when we make that
trip. I would hate for our families to experience this.
Great write pimp.
PFC. BeegE