The Soldier

Serious older British veteran and a stunned younger Black man sit at a bar—two generations divided by war, united by legacy.

A reflective anti-war poem about a conversation between generations. A veteran who survived two world wars warns that the world may be becoming increasingly volatile, leaving younger generations to inherit the burden of future conflict. The poem asks whether the sacrifices of the past have truly made the future safer.

Shellshocked Frank
My brother nicknamed him
because exploding shells
had severely deafened him.

A veteran of World Wars
One and Two,
we sat in the Ale House,
conversing,

as he perched on a red velvet
covered wooden stool.

“Hey, Frank.
Would you fight another war?”

He looked at me,
the stout shaking in his hand.

“I fought for you —
that’s why we’re here, son.
But the world right now
is more volatile than before.

Now you’re a little bit
long in the tooth, so prepare
to send your kids to war,
so this country in future,
can be secure.”

I coughed out cigarette smoke
like a sick dog,
ground the butt into
the cheap green
aluminum ashtray,

my forefinger on my chin,
contemplating…