Dust On The Boot Poem by Ryan Brodesser

`It started in Texas, on a sunny day

Down the road, a mile from the route

A little boy, just trying to play

Shoulders burned and dust on the boot


12 years goes by grind

A broadcast, urges young adults to serve and recruit

And so a young man gets his paper signed

and marches off, proud but ready, a little dust on the boot


In a camp in a base, far from home

The young man learns how to obey and salute

He learns much, underneath that military dome

A soldier in the making, a gun, and a little dust on the boot


Now overseas, he fights in other lands

A hard fight, a cool temper astute

trying to win, and meet his officers demands

A gun, a helmet, and a little dust on the boot


There comes the day when all ends

and cruel fate cuts all off a piece of a tree's root

a funeral, a day of grief from family and friends

but always, memories, happiness, and a little dust on the boot