Young Soldier

• Madeline Cole, Grade 9
• Poetry
• 2012

In a bar a young soldier sips a beer,
Upon his cheek falls a tear,
The barman asks, “what is wrong son?
Why so blue? Your life has barely begun”
The soldier fiddles with the medals upon his breast,
Then replies. “Cobber, my mate that I knew best,
Just an hour ago was laid to rest.
In my 20 years I have loved and lost,
And by my side my mate paid the ultimate cost,
In my short time I have experienced more than most,
Fought a war in a foreign land, on a foreign coast,
How could you claim my life has barely started,
When so many of my mates have, of this earth, departed?”
And with that he stood and said “goodbye”
As the other patrons began to cry,
And the barman wiped many a tear from his eye.