Blood Stained Hands Poem by Brianna Trombley

I never knew, never had any idea
Of what it would feel like
To kill another person
To bare onto them, that devastating strike

I was young and naïve, only a boy
When I signed up, enlisted for war
Completely ignorant, oblivious
For what it had in store

I said my goodbyes
Unaware that I may not return
Or just how much
For each of my loved ones, I’d yearn

As weeks turned into months
And months into years
I was called to the frontline
The greatest of all my fears

I had heard stories, of the line
Of those that didn’t make it
Of those who did, with blood on his hands
Living with his own regret

My heart skipped a beat
As I took my spot on that line
I raised my gun, tried to aim
Knowing I was in a hell of a bind

To aim to hit, and take another’s life
To aim to miss, and maybe lose mine
I waited for the call, closed my eyes
And allowed for fate to decide

It was then, looking across from myself
At the boy now laying on the ground
I knew, with blood already on my hands
There was no going back, my destiny was found