One Single Impession: In Love with Life -- A Memorial Day Poem
.
He was in love with life. He finished his school, he
lied about his age, and he enlisted.
Enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corp.
Became a soldier, he did.
.
Flight school was a dream,
learning to soar, learning to
fight, and best of all, learning
to fly. Fly his P-38 he did,
.
He wrote his mother,
who was expecting.
A new sister for him in January.
.
He wrote his father.
He was so proud of what
the Air Corp had made him.
Trained him to fly, trained him
to follow orders, they did.
.
He took his plane, the P-38,
to Italy to help fight the war.
.
We don't know what he did from there.
We imagine escorting bombers,
we imagine shooting his enemies down.
We imagine Eugene Jr. was loving his life.
He was so brave.
.
We don't know how it happened
but we know on a December day
he was shot down along with his plane.
A priest had found him and retrieved
his dog tag. Then he covered him
with his chute. Junior had lost his life.
.
We know the German soldiers came.
They buried him by the church.
.
After the war he was moved
to New Orleans and buried
there with his kin.
.
After the war, there was no life for him.
A sister for him was born
in the month after he died.
Life goes on, for one or another.
.Junior we know.
We know from his letters,
the life he would have loved.
.
Live it he couldn't. War is Hell.
.
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Photos and Poem Copyright
© 2012 Jimmiehov
All Rights Reserved
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Prompt, 'in love with life,' was suggested by Laura at Shine the Divine
Find more poems using 'black and white' prompt word
at One One Single Impression
Note:
... Mrs. Jim is the 'sister' in this poem, a sister very proud of her brother. She never knew him except from what she was told and from what she gained from his few letters. Mrs. Jim wore a red poppy flower to church today. She wore it for Junior.
Labels: Family, One-Single-Impression, prose poem
posted by Jim @ 5/27/2012 06:41:00 PM
6 comments
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