GI Special 4F25: Empty Boots - June 29, 2006

Thomas F. Barton

To Brian, My Beloved Son
His boots are empty now
the hopeful one who wore them
ground beneath the juggernaut of war.

Where we laid him
a stone will stay,
flags flutter, and flowers sway,
watered by tears and rain.

War is cruel,
and love must suffer long,
but can it suffer so in vain?

Do you hear their voices calling
from out those deep empty boots?
We went where we were sent,
and there we faced the worst.

Upon our bodies
dare you take a stand?
Or will our deaths,
just like our lives,
be lost in desert sand?

Rosemarie Dietz Slavenas, for my son Brian, KIA, Falluja, Iraq 11/12103

continua / continued