Taps for my Soldier

Taps for My Soldier

by CJ (Parrish, Kempf, O'Brien) Heck

A gentle breeze chatters the leaves
as birds sing their greetings.

 
The sun shines 

on a day like any other,
and yet like none before.

 
Two mirrored rows of uniforms
line up like blue dominoes,
white gloves holding rifles at the ready.

 
A lone bugle cries. 

Twenty-four notes.
Each note, slow as a tear,
blankets ears and heavy hearts.

 
In the silence between,
even nature holds its breath.

 
Gone is the breeze.
Gone are the bird songs.
Gone is her hold on composure,
all lost in the bugle's lament.

 
Solemnly a soldier approaches.
White gloves present a tri-fold flag,

 
and in one final mournful note,
legions of silent voices unite
to call a comrade home

and his young wife weeps.

[from the book, "Anatomy of a Poet", by CJ Heck]

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"Taps for My Soldier" included by invitation in the Taps Exhibit, The Taps Project, Arlington National Cemetery, May 29, 1999.

"Taps for My Soldier" included in the book, The Other Side of Sorrow by Cicely Buckley, edited by Patricia Frisella (Poetry Society of New Hampshire, 2006).

“I am only one, but I am one. I can't do everything, but I can do something. The something I ought to do, I can do, and by the grace of God, I will.” ~Everett Hale