~An American Valentine~

By WordWulf, 16th Jan 2011 | Follow this author | RSS Feed | Short URL http://nut.bz/1wrvqn_q/
Posted in Wikinut>Writing>Poetry

He reaches inside the shirt of the dead soldier. Searching, sobbing, and there he finds a large red paper heart adorned with real lace and fine spun glass.

~An American Valentine~

His eyes are closed
and a tear runs down his cheek
It gathers in the filth on his face
makes soft mud there
His rifle leans against his left shoulder
butt to the ground
its bayonet gleaming hard and steel
through the liquid red of new blood running
in a river down to stain the gray cloak of his uniform

His eyes open and he looks down and down
upon the body of his just-slain enemy
Blue material absorbs and hides
the blood much better he thinks
laughs hysterically
He reaches inside the shirt of the dead soldier
Searching, sobbing, and there he finds
a large red paper heart adorned with real lace
and fine spun glass
His weeping is absolute now
He falls to his knees
eyes to the sky, beseeching God

He reaches inside his own vest
discovers his own mortal wound
In each of his hands now
he holds a large paper heart
white lace, fine spun glass
and blood fresh of nation
He sees the inscription on each, identical:
“My dearest Johnny”
He bends down low, cries out in his pain
looks into the dead eyes of his vanquished enemy
face to face, moaning
live lips to dead lips
Death’s embrace; he cries, lays down, he dies

Meet the author

WordWulf
Tom Sterner lives in Redding, California and Arvada, Colorado with wife Kathy. He has been published in numerous magazines and on the internet, including Howling Dog Press/Omega, Skyline Literary Review, The Storyteller, and Flashquake. His interne...(more)