Confessions of a soldier



Dear wife I killed a man today…
Hence to you, I must confess
This heavy burden of mine
Orders came swiftly
…And thrust upon the battlefield was I!
Shouts of “Charge! Charge!”
Still echoes… through my mind
Blinded by masses of my fellow men
Who seemed to bound past me far, far ahead
Somewhere in the distance an enemy was not seen
I remained cowardly frozen, while oblivious to the dangers all around me
Why in this particular moment to be struck in the head but, not by a missile
But, by too many questions I could not comprehend
Deafening explosions, whistling bullets, a reddening madness in the midst
I stood all alone…
Contemplating with anger and clenching my fists
Then, I spied a suspicious movement from the corner of my eye
He came rushing towards me, bayonet in hand
Now, I reasoned fairly quickly that I did not want to die!
It was he or it was I!
Who was more willing to live?
Were there now moral questions to decide?
Or just animal instinct and something we did?
Sadly my love, all I can say…
Is that, I’m the one who lived and walked away
And again I regret to inform you, that I’m not entirely sure if I sinned
But, this I do know…I did not win!
I killed a man today

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Submitted on May 01, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:07 min read
2

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDEFGHIJDKLMNOEPEEQRSAATUA
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,176
Words 226
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 28

Nighttiger

A fortyish native born all American man. Married twice and for the last time. I have four children; Three daughters and one son that are all over the age of eighteen. I also have two grandchildren; one three years old and one nine months old. Inspired by God, tragedy, life's experiences and then a fairy tale love. I never intentionally set out to write poetry, but "She" inspired me. "She" meaning the love of my life. That love is a passion that after thirteen years still grows stronger each and every day. It eventually had to be put into writing. As I wrote poetry to her, she encouraged me to approach other subjects. Doing so brought me to discover that poetry could wash away the bitter tastes of life (suicide, cancer, and divorce) that were still living like demons inside me. So when poetic therapy brought those impish fiends to a stalemate, I began to experiment more. Creating fictional characters and situations within my works. The support of this online community has inspired me even further to continue to hone my writing skills giving the readers the best that I can offer. Thanks to all you out there in Lulu land. more…

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