Two years, you spent eyeing
Those boots on your feet
Finally, you got them
One week
Before bootcamp

This morning,
You wore a cap without a tassle
And a tie full of flags
Our nation's colors
Bled through your gown

So stand now,
Beneath this pool hall light
So I can memorize
That crooked swirl in your hair
Little black whirpool
I never knew was there

"I never knew my hair was this dark,"
You told me, once
"Until I left California"

Sometimes I forget
You left your mother and surfing
And picked up bass fishing
And skate boarding
A few friends
And shooting pool
And now you're leaving this
To learn to shoot a rifle

Seventeen and you already
Know how to live

Congratulations
Farewell
My favorite Marine
You hug me
And you smell like cologne
And after two years
Of knowing you in Carolina
I don't know why
That surprises me