My Military Memory: The Soldier Story

The flag is lowered, steady, slow,
Through tears I watch them fold it up,
A reminder to his mother's heart,
That our Dane never gave up.

The notes of TAPS, they resonate,
And smother me in sorrow,
Because my soldier's day is done,
And he has no tomorrow.

Tomorrow would have been one year,
Twelve months of wearing rings,
And somewhere in the distance,
This small, sweet bird, it sings...

The sun, it fades, and then descends,
Lost behind the hill,
His life is gone, his day is done,
And yet I stand here still.

His casket settles in the ground,
And though we seem apart,
Somehow we're together:
He's buried with my heart.

I lay upon the earth he hallowed,
I trace the name upon his stone,
And though I'm in this haunting place,
I strangely feel at home.

The notes are floating in the air,
The song comes to an end,
Tears and flowers coat his grave,
A wound no one can mend.

Below the surface with my Dane,
There lays my life, my breath,
And though my heart is beating,
It joins my Dane in death.

TAPS keeps playing in my head,
Beneath my garrison,
I check my gig-line and my tag,
And look down at our son.

That eight week baby stares at me,
And somehow, it just shows,
He's all that I have left of Dane,
And it seems as though he knows.

His daddy's eyes look up at me,
Those gorgeous baby blues.
His little fist around my thumb,
He squeezes it and coos.

TAPS recites his day is done,
But that is just not so,
He serves his duty every day,
In the Tale of My Hero.