A soldier was ordered into battle to face the foe, <br />His mind devoid of sensation - his body numb, <br />And his rifle fixed with a bayonet in front of him, <br />Charged the rampart hoping the conflict is won. <br /> <br />His fate is dependent upon the success of the mission, <br />The mark of death had been cast upon his head, <br />Severely wounded by an unrelenting hostility <br />On the battlefield where his body profusely bled <br /> <br />No more transitory orders - no more fighting, <br />No longer can be heard the eerie sound of artillery, <br />Only a mumbling of words - crying out in pain, <br />Hallucinating of love ones vague and dreary. <br /> <br />Shortly he will succumb from his ghastly wounds <br />In a hostile and foreign land across the vast sea. <br />Though he is dead - his spirit will live on forever, <br />His body to be buried in his hometown's cemetery. <br /> <br />The sound of TAPS on a bugle is heard nearby, <br />Symbolic of death for his country with the highest laud. <br />The Chaplain says a final prayer- many tears are shed <br />As the soldier's body is laid to rest beneath the sod. <br /> <br />An important question is still to be answered, <br />' Why was this soldier chosen to die on foreign soil? '<br /><br />Joseph T. Renaldi<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-dying-soldier/
