Ellipse #78(…candy Bar) Poem by Joe Guillotin

Saw a kid in a gas mask today
Five years old- maybe four
Stole a Hershey bar from the remains
of a burnt down store.

Riot gear and hopscotch
Slingshots and hand grenades.

Well, that kid- with that precious chocolate in hand
He found a soldier, lying on the ground
And there, he kneeled down
The soldier had a gut shot wound
And bits of shrapnel in his small intestine
In his hand,
a photograph of his wife he rubbed
with a bloody thumb.
From the waist down, he began to grow numb

And that kid in that gas mask
He looked down with a bit of pity
On the soldier with the seeping wound
and soon to be widowed wife.
He took PITY on that soldier's
poor, unfortunate life.

He took that candy bar from his back pocket,
And he GAVE that dying soldier his chocolate.
That soldier- he had a tear in his eye..
For that one gracious deed before he would die.

He looked up in the gas mask glass,
and saw his reflection!
He smiled wide,
and with sincere, yet trembling inflection
said, ‘Thanks kid.'

And that kid, he saw that smile-
and he pondered on it for awhile.

'That's ok. I'm going to steal a TV now instead'

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