The 26 that heeded,
Heeded the call of duty
All friends of a childhood too quick passed
Embarking on the journey so well lied about
Thinking nothing of the impending sorrow that loomed
Wherever one must bring a gun to feel any sort of safety

Of the brave but foolish 26
There is one with the most ill of luck
Taken from the barren in which he sleeps
Thrown to a strange and unknown place
Amidst the land stranger still to him
Tortured in all the ways those human thieves could imagine
Thieves of joy and joie de vivre
Thieves of friends and thieves of love
Thieves who tortured
In all ways permitted
By the condition of sparing his life
Not the least of which
A coffin of wire
With points sharp as needles
From which he thought he would never escape
Yet he left it still as one
But with cuts up and down
Like little post-it notes
Reminding and perpetuating all of his agony

Thieves that took his joy
And gave him 25 more reasons
For which his joy was gone
25 pieces of evidence
Proving the lie he was told
25 lost friendships
That never made it to manhood
25 families robbed
An instant of love, now a life of longing
25 memories
Stopped abruptly
But mostly,
25 friends

He may nurture 25 new memories and friendships and people
But none will ever be
The 25 that stayed,
None will ever know the pain
Of the one that returned