They Kept Him Awake

true story set during the Russo-Japanese War in what is now Belarus

They Kept Him Awake

                                                         

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

They kept him awake hour after hour

then day after day.  They took turns

and did not let him sleep, walked him 

back and forth back and forth for days

and nights and then when the recruiters

arrived in their village he appeared

ill-suited to be a soldier

sickly and not fit he appeared

and the recruiters passed him by.

                                                                                       

2                                                                                                                    

                                                                                

Friend, this family story jibes

with the history I researched

of that place and time well known

are many similar anecdotes 

 

Was there coffee in their home?

something from a movie infiltrated

this story as it lodged in my mind

nor does tea fit into this story

                                                                                                             

So few clues I have about their home

they grew potatoes in their yard

allegedly to give to poor people 

his siblings walked him by the potatoes                                       

                                                                                                   

They walked him and walked him, friend

and a little victory was theirs