‘The Soldier’: A Veterans Day Poem by Richard Lackman

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The Soldier

He started as a little boy from any small hometown.
He loved to throw and hit a ball but never gained renown.
His parents taught him right from wrong and how to do his best,
So he grew up a normal way, not unlike all the rest.
Like any young adult he had his dreams and yes his fears,
And yet possessed a wisdom that was older than his years.
When war broke out his conscience pushed him on to join the fight,
And as he left for war he told his mom he’d be alright.
He learned the art of soldiering, of how to fight and shoot;
But at his core humanity remained beyond dispute.
And so this ordinary boy now finds himself one day
In an extraordinary battle in a country far away.
Thinking not about himself but of his fellow men,
He bravely fights an enemy till one wrong step and then
He dies there on that battlefield in savagery’s display
While we are left with memories and tears to wipe away.
This is a common tale about such fine, uncommon men
Who fight and die for freedom never asking where or when.
So now we must forgive ourselves for making them depart,
Knowing that forgiveness lives in every soldier’s heart.

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Richard Lackman is an orthopaedic cancer surgeon and poet.