Night time snow blowing
Sky filled with darkened cold
Coffee warms my soul

No medals for those who die on Site,
Just silence, till the Ambulance has gone,
Then, disconnecting like a crumpled kite,
The twisted scaffold, he had fallen from.

No more teasing his taste in Sandwiches,
Or Football team, that lost, again,
Just back to gable-ends steep pitches
As bosses begin, to shift the blame.

After the Funeral, we drank to him,
He, who was one of us,
Those who risk life and limb,
Gathered tightly, into a nucleus.

Hushed, we lifted Whiskey and Ales,
To a life, that rang with hammers and nails.

By: Cedric McClester

We could see it
In his eyes
What we all feared
We realized
Was getting nearer
Every day
Pretty soon
He’d go away

He let his art
Be his voice
What he shared
Was quite by choice
Beyond his veil
Of mystery
He wrote it down
For us to see

Ever changing
As he went
His creative energy
Was well spent
Because he chose
Not to relent
When he shared
A sentiment

Ziggy Stardust
And Major Tom
Were alter egos
Endowed with charm
Cathartic renderings
Made to disarm
An errant critic’s
False alarm

























Cedric McClester, Copyright © 2016.  All rights reserved.

So this is it, you’re ready to fight, you’ve had now many sleepless nights
Eat your M.R.E,  and load your gun, can’t you see? there’s the sun
Ready to go and buddies by your side, men to your left, men to your right
Now you realize your prayers have to work, you have to save him and him to save Her
In your head you picture the worst, alone, brothers dead it’s like you’ve been cursed
You hear gunfire, adrenaline rushes through your veins, you look down and your cameo has been covered in stains
Your thinking “Why does it have to be like this?”, it’s getting you ticked, knowing all some do, is take advantage
All that’s left are your last few friends, you don’t care about yourself anymore, you need to get them to the end
Some men go down, 1 2 3, you’re asking God now, “Why not me?”
Then as quick as a flash, the battle is over and done, it is now the setting of what feels like a just risen sun
A few of your brothers come up and see you with head in your hands, tears down your face, and gun in the sand
You look up to see the survivors faces, then you all  silently head back to your bases
They lower the fallen in, nothing has been more real. Did you even win? This is so hard to feel
To some these things don't matter, in their minds, these guys were just zeros. But as for me, I will honor my fallen heroes.
                                         ~Trinity Monks

If only I grew some *****,
Life would be so much easier...

K R W