A Footsoldier's Tale                                            


            It gave him something to do
            Besides sit on the couch
            With no prospects 
            Except the hamburger joint
            When somebody called in sick

            Right after he signed up for The Cause
            He got a nice new pair of combat boots
            And went to school 
            To learn that Other People
            Were The Enemy

            In time he pulled his head
            Out of the clouds and took 
            His feet off the ground
            To go home

            He found it hard to hold a job
            But harder still
            To pat his conscience down

            So every day he drank a fifth
            And every night he played roulette
            Until


            ________________________________________________________________________


            Emanuel E. García, 2014

            published in Truthout