A Soldier's Tale

I hear the shot

I feel my legs crumple

I see red liquid drip down from  hole in my uniform.

I pray for mercy. 

I pray to live, even though the innocent souls I shot did not.

I say I will never kill again, 

though the damage is done. 

I ask for a second chance, 

but none comes.

I pray for my wife and baby 

as I fall away from life into death,

unaware that 10 years from now my son will sit by my grave 

and wonder about the father he never had.

by Parker A. Brown