Friday, October 28, 2011

Semper Fi!


By David Roth
© 28th October, 2011

Sweat glistens as diamonds
on a brow the color of Belgian dark chocolate
while rod straight fingers of pristine cotton
snap a crisp salute.

He willed the trembling fingers still
a hairs breadth away
from the patent leather shine
of his perfectly tilted cover
and razor edged dress blues.

Later, when the echo of twenty-one guns
faded as the memory of a summer storm
and the flag draped wooden box was silent
beneath a chiseled slab of granite
and fresh bolts of sod tapped firmly in place

would the storm of emotion
that rocked him to the core pass
taking with it the fury of a thousand
sleepless nights beneath the stars
some unnamed ocean of sand

when like the gentle babble
of a mountain creek
would he find peace
even as the last of his team lay still
in the cold earth and setting sun,

he had kept the faith.
Semper Fi!


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