By: Patrick O. Donahue

Seconds pass like crawling days
here, on Timeless Hill.
War and distance obscure the truth:
’tis another man I kill,

Perhaps one day I might reflect
and think upon the man
and love my warrior brother
like only soldiers can.

At present I can ill afford
my conscience to betray
the window which an instant brings
to put my foe away.

I clear my mind and wait the chance
when fate will call him home
an anxious wind invades my heart
and chills me to the bone.

A prayer for the dying
as the moment closes in,
“Welcome and embrace him Lord,
like others I will send”.

My finger on the trigger rests
inches from the deed…
thunder cracks a silent sky,
’tis War my friend,

Godspeed.

Copyright © 2006 Patrick Owen Donahue. All Rights Reserved.