A Lonely Soldier's Lullaby

The illuminated sky became obscured
when night had fallen.
The lonely soldier hid in darkness
in a misty hole of dirt
where his frightened voice lingered on.
"Free me from this misery,
his buddy heard him calling."
Every night after gray clouds rolled by,
the lonely soldier
sang his humble lullaby.
But, no one could see
the tears in his eyes
when the soldier began to cry.
Once a happy man was he,
just like you,
and just like me.
A man who had a life before Vietnam
with a wife, a child, and a happy family.
Now, crouched down
in a black hole of silence
where his family and friends from home
can't see the tears on his face,
or the rags he wears for clothes.
No one could feel his pain
from wounds that made scars
every night when he hides from the enemy,
while he cries a lonely soldier's lullaby.

C 1998 Geri Ahearn
Published in "Life's Poetic Journey" 2001