Semper Fi!

By David Roth

© 28^th 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!