Holding his adversary
Carefully within his scope
To soldier A is a challenge--
A distant, forlorn hope.
 
An occasional glimpse of a helmet…
An aim as yet unfulfilled…
He knows that he has no choice:
It's ****, or he will be killed.
 
Good timing is essential.
All he can do is lie low…
And wait. But there is something
That he doesn't know:
 
His enemy across the field--
Let's call him soldier B--
Is, like himself, a father--
And also a father of three.
 
He lives for his children,
Who are the light of his life;
And he hates not being at home
To support his struggling wife.
 
His two older brothers
Died in a previous war.
His mother died of grief.
How can he settle the score?
 
For now he can only take aim
At his enemy--at soldier A.
"Focus!" he tells himself. "Focus!"
As his mind starts drifting away.
 
Though soldier A is his target,
B is unaware, too,
Of soldier A's situation--
Of all that he is going through:
 
Soldier A's three children
Count the days till their dad
Will come home to take them to ball games--
To return to the life they once had.
 
The youngest child needs treatment
For a rare, childhood disease.
The middle child is being bullied
And requires his dad's expertise.
 
His wife--on the verge of a breakdown--
Finds it hard to suppress
The constant fears within her
That add to life's daily stress.
 
     *     *     *     *     *
 
So soldier A and B
Await the instant to shoot--
To end the life of the other.
For that they deserve a salute?
 
If the two soldiers could only
Lay down their weapons and race
Across the shell-pitted field
And into each other's embrace,
 
Wouldn't that be amazing?
Much needless suffering would end.
And they could consider everyone
A brother or sister or friend.
 
Ah, but that's just a fantasy--
An illusion, a fancy, a dream,
An unreal expectation
With no place in mankind's scheme.
 
For as long as we're driven by ego,
And ignorance and vengeance and fear,
We're caught in a vicious circle,
And wars will not disappear.

- by Bob B