SOLDIER OF WAR

People tell me that

I can be distant

On the Day of Remembrance

I am distant because

I try to think

Of what it was like

To be a soldier of war.

 

Being a soldier of war

Was being a man back then

Fighting for your country

But…

When you felt

the sting of remorse

after killing an innocent man

whom you didn’t even know

you might have doubted

your cause.

 

People tell me that

I can be distant

On the Day of Remembrance

I am distant because

I try to think

Of what it was like

To be a soldier of war.

 

I wrote this when I was 13 about 10 minutes before it was due and somehow it managed to win two poetry contests.