He loved life was on his epitaph <br />Generous and giving to all <br />That he is dead is not in dispute <br />The truth of the epitaph his victims refute <br /> <br />He may have loved his woman and kin <br />No doubt he wished to see them again <br />Yet he was sent to another place <br />To kill members of his own race <br /> <br />Did he ever ask whose home he was in <br />Was he polite though they were not kin <br />Did he knock before or just barge in <br /> <br />Did he look them in the eye before the deed was done <br />Or treat them as so much dung <br />Did he see his humanity in their eyes <br />Or see them simply as swatted flies <br /> <br />His thoughts we will never know <br />His face we no longer see <br />For someone just like him sent his life to another place <br />To join the deceased of the human race <br /> <br />3/19/2008<br /><br />Claude H Oliver II<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-soldier-s-dilemma/
