Somebody's Son

He could have been anyone in the family: a brother, an uncle, a father, or cousin. But, most definately he was somebody's son. The pride and hope of his parents. It's not to say he didn't excell in school. Maybe he didn't, or maybe he was the captain. He could have been the waterboy.

He may have wanted to be a doctor, and heal the sick, or he might have been a scholar searching for knowledge in some university. But all that changed when his country called.

Did he volunteer? Or, was he called from private life? Whatever the reason he laid down his work and put on the uniform. There may have been bands and parades as he marched off to war, with a pretty girl's kiss on his lips as he hoisted his rifle and marched away. Or, did he leave in the dead of night so he wouldn't see his mother's tears?

His time in the states was short as he steamed toward the conflict in a troop ship zig zagging it's course for fear of U-Boats. And all too soon he was moved to the front. How long was the wait? The endless hours hearing distant cannon and seeing what happens to soldiers coming back with ghastly wounds.

Then, it was his time to go. Marching in mass and hiding his fear he found himself with those who still lived. They may have helped some, or, they might have ignored him. How many nights did he stand on the wall looking out over no man's land?

Then there was a whistle and he found himself running with his mates as they dodged and jumped over craters and what was left of others as the ground exploded with missles of death all around him.

Did he quake ,or freeze? Did he try to go on? It mattered not when they found him. He was carried back and quickly buried without his name.

Back home his parents received the telegram that read ' Missing in action, Presumed dead'. And did they get his letters that came long after the cable telling them not to worry. Not knowing where he was left a hole in their lives.

Lying there with others marked the same, he would have been nothing more than a boy lost to everyone forever.

An unknown soldier that fades faster than the mists over his grave on a warm morning in Flanders; forgotten and left to the lotus eaters of time, which breed their offspring, indifference. But something happened.

His resting place was opened and his remains, along with two others, were transported to a chapel. Inside a plain box he laid, as a sergeant with a bouqet came to the three coffins and laid the flowers on his without a word.

He was placed on a ship steaming back from where he came to a place called Arlington, Virginia...coming home.

There he was reverantly lowered into a stone crypt with the words," Here Lies a Soldier Known Only But to God"

And there he rests, holding forever the his secret, along with all of those who not only gave their lives, but, everything they were or could have been. Those nameless legions forever lost. Somebody's son.