SOLDIERS NEVER DIE

Soldiers never die
they sleep in the soothing feel
of the evening  winds
Soldiers never die
they live in the rumbling terror
of smoking guns
Soldiers just never die
they endure in the confident gaits
of comrades in distant lands
            still fighting on

Good soldiers never die
they live on
in the toothless smile of orphans
and the innocent laughter of toddlers
growing without a motherly
or fatherly touch

Good soldiers just never die
they are reincarnate in the sparkling tears
of widows left behind
to tend the farms and the kids
in the widowers’ unspoken sacrifice
and in the awkward silence around dinner tables

soldiers never die
they endure in the spirit of new recruits
the words of our anthems
and the causes they ‘died’ for.
Soldier never die.