The promise of dedication
Rings through the air
A word that lingers but no one can hear.
Your eyes are sheltered, at your expense
The urge of uniformity and brotherhood
Consume your very core
Haunted by a faint siren, a world long shattered
Broken down and built into a mindless robot
Of a time long forgotten
Screams
Coming from your brothers
Heard only upon deaf ears
Crawling with your eyes closed
To safety or death,
You signed your fate away at the age of four
You went from a brother and friend to a hero
Trying to reach absolute glory
A soldier so eager to fight someone else’s war
Cold eyes watching no progress, stuck in a time warp
Where only guns and knives are seen
The taste of copper on your tongue
The boots of a friend or foe in front of your face
You enter a place where there is no choice
Asking the same questions as you see
The destruction of a tree,
Those who could not come home
The families torn apart by a second in the wrong place
Clasping cold, dirty hands
Dragged under the ground, where you are silenced once more
Amber Gorham is a grade 12 student at Saint Michael Catholic High School. This poem was written for her brother, who has recently decided to join the army. “I wrote this poem about wars and my thoughts about them. I am for peace, love and freedom as is my brother (Brandon Gorham) but he decided to join the army. Right now he is in basic training at Borden and working his way to go help across seas in a year or two. These are my worst fears but also admiration towards for my older brother for being so courageous.”