Lou J. Klaiber

DEROS[1]

It just happens…!

DEROS
… happens,

… and ‘newbies’ watch
the old Sergeant leave.

The ‘short timers’, understand

and quietly share a cigarette.

Silence is very loud
in the eyes of those who saw it all.

American Soldiers
caught up in a war,
sharing the gift of leaving…

with one of there own.

Eyes, and hands, and small talk!

A joke…! and laughter,
and then
… a last smoke
within the small moments
before the ‘bird’ comes in.

Nothing is over
and the War never ends.

Time follows the days of the Sun.

The Sergeant grows old

… and fades away.