Lou J. Klaiber

I AM NOT A YOUNG MARINE

They are sent around the world
always in harms way and always alone in squad
formation…

… somewhere far away from the comfort of our lives… and I
wish that I could be among them. A gray old soldier of the
South…!
laughing and sending them home. Staying upon the danger of their
Midnight world. Fighting, that they might live!

They laugh at me… these brave Marines!

… they call to me
and I answer them
calling… within myself… to a distant victory
something solid
for when they come home.

I cannot follow…
yet I would die
for them.