One Boy Dies Poem by Edwina Reizer

When one boy dies
In a land far away
From home, from family
What can we say?
Sorry, too bad, what a shame
Or shout to the world his given name?

My son, my son, my son why you?
My dad, my dad what will I do?
Brother, brother, oh God no!
My husband, my husband. It can't be so.

War is ugly. It doesn't belong
In anyone's history book.
Not one name should ever be etched
On a headstone where people look.
To remember death and honor a boy
That an ugly war took.

We fold up a flag. We listen to taps
And give a final salute
And the boy who's gone is a memory.
His voice in the air is mute.

When one boy dies
In a land far away
There's a void, an empty space
That nothing in this whole wide world
Can anyone ever replace.