A Soldier's Boots

A soldier’s boots

These boots walked across burning desert sand,
kicked doors open in Basra, hoping for the best,
sheltered feet through two winters and one summer,
more than one tour of duty, a wife and two kids at home
waiting for their husband and father to come home.
These boots saw courage and fear, stood
next to the fallen; friends and fellow soldiers,
felt the warmth of fresh tears.
These boots are empty now,
the soldier has been laid to rest, his family
gone home to face emptying closets of his shirts,
the books he read, the games only he played with the kids.
His boots now rest in a small grassy field
in front of a small city courthouse
bearing testament to all we have lost.