The Last Soldier

[beekay]

]They buried him today
The last soldier, the last veteran
Of the last war that raged so long
That no one living knew
When it started, or why.

But all knew the day and the hour
When the Caretakers came down
In their huge ships, silent, gray
And everywhere on Earth at once,

And all the fighting stopped

The Caretakers were kind,
Proctors for a wise old race,
And they were as compassionate,
As gentle, too, as machines can be
When disarming humans.

All weapons disappeared.
There were some who fought on.
They all disappeared, too.
And long afterward, people would stop
Just to hear the silence.

Generations passed, and
Those who remembered that war were few.
Those who fought in that war
Became fewer still, ‘til there was one.
And then he, too, was gone.

Dusty ceremonies,
Learned from archives, saw him to his grave.
And tarnished bugles played
Sad cries for the last, sad warrior,
Now, finally, at peace.

[judih]

do we wish or do we dread
freedom to be human
or release from foibles


thoughtful after reading this beekay