Homecoming

An end to snipers
and IED flak;
he's home from the
lethal streets 0f Iraq.

Peace and tranquility
now rule his land;
he no longer treads
menacing sands.

His time has ended in
the Service of the Sword;
he peacefully sleeps in the
arms of the Lord.

My son, my child, my
hope for the future,
his uniform conceals
surgeon’s sutures

that could not stay
his ebbing life,
and send him safely
home to his wife -

to his own sons who
in sorrow weep
over the coffin where
their hero now sleeps.

The rifles fire,
the bugles play,
honoring the end
of his earthly days.

I turn away, and
stifle a curse;
I see approaching
another hearse...

The snipers remain
as does IED flak
for others who patrol
deadly streets in Iraq.

© Thurman P. Woodfork
7/15/2007 - For those brave
souls who have truly stayed the
course.