Silence Be A Soldier Poem by Dion Futerman

silence be a soldier
as naked and brave
as any prayer sung

silence be the soldier
as he falls
towards a final slumber
imprisoned by
a barren stretch of soil

silence be a soldier
with warmth of youth boiling over
across a void
where there is no need for words

silence be a soldier
and the gold icon upon his temple
that some mother placed there with love
decays and rusts
with the music of the night wind
forgotten
and abandoned on a foreign field

silence is a soldier
skull glistening like a diamond in the mud
where insects and birds dance a ritual in the morning mist
not caring if the battle was lost or won