American Soldiers

Soldiers were in my town today.

I heard their cadenced feet.

It seemed an embarrassed mass I saw.

Their faces red with heat.

Soldiers slept in our Capitol tonight.

Legs splayed across marble floors.

They turned within their restless dreams

in the soft light from chamber doors. 

Soldiers were at the walls today

long guns with loaded magazines.

Each warrior questioned his response

to any likely scene.

Soldiers faced another night

this time, sleeping in a frozen garage.

Talking heads all smirking said

it beat an artillery barrage.

Soldiers will all soon board their jets

and they will, to their far homes, fly.

May American soldiers never come here again

prepared to kill or die.