“Pitter Patter”

“Pitter Patter”

Little feet “pitter patter”

Thoughts of freedom, they do not matter

Innocent and alert

No fear at all of being hurt

A new pair of shoes, to be so excited

Red, blue or green, eyes always delighted

To run and jump, enjoy different views

Something so special as a new pair of shoes

A new year of school, growing so tall

Hours with friends spent at the mall

Playing sports, joining groups

Not ever fearing spies or snoops

Until one day they get the call

“Come on dear child; come one come all!”

“We need everyone, you’ve been called to arm”

“Here is your gun, you are now trained to harm!”

“What you learned when you were young”

“Now prepares you for this gun!”

“Cowboys and Indians, you played them all”

“Now it’s time to survive or fall”!

Army, Navy, Air-force, Marines.

Our children grow up for them it seems.

“Trade in your shoes for your pack and your boots”

“Do it for us, no matter who’s in cahoots”!

“You’re number forty, sixty; one-ten”

Dying in droves, once children now men

Mothers are screaming, “Rescue my child!”

While for what they fought, remains exiled.

Quietly he moves; an intense dedication

Uncertain if there is any manifestation

Of what he believes growing throughout;

So he no longer has to spread fear and doubt.

Aligning all, in what he believes

Truth or not, high powers deceive

Convincing the child what he’s doing is right.

Soldier by day, a mother’s offspring by night.

Tears did fall when they lost their shoes.

Replaced by boots, with military dues.

To fight or not, and have no voice.

But still strive to hand down keys of choice.

Now onto heaven, the soldier might go.

A mother’s sorrows they’ll never know.

To money-makers, the fight did not matter.

Lining pockets, gold and land fatter

But in some cases, a soldier would not die

Task-makers god smacked , curious “why?”

“I guess we must give the soldier reward”

“So in the news we are not abhorred”

A ribbon here, cheap medal there.

But when you come home, true reward is still bare.

No huge parades, not even full care.

“We barely acknowledge the fact you fought there”

On the streets now and just barely alive.

What the soldier has learned, helps them survive.

Not knowing now, where her babe might be.

Wrapped in a tarp, suffering PTSD.

The eyes still display a ghostly stare.

Of unspoken things he was told “were not there”.

“Just take your pill, it’ll all go away”

But the soldier knows it is here to stay

But on the street he has nothing to lose

Maybe he can find a new pair of shoes

Reminding the soldier of what used to be

When “pitter patter” was to be loved and free.

Charleen Richey

Feb 2021