Grave of the Unknown Soldier

Sweat, tears, blood, fear.

Gunshot wound to the stomach, terror in your eyes. You know the end is near.

Red runs through your shirt and pools in the dust. Your fumbling hand has done nothing to stop the bleeding. A man with many blurry faces is shouting but you cannot hear,

your dying senses can only see the fear in is eyes. His nightmare is to become you.

"Mama, come hold me." A cry for comfort, love and peace. You want to be taken somewhere safe, far away from here. Away from the battlefields and bombs and killing.

Two years pass, and then a few more.

Your family wonders what happened to you in the war. MIA was all the note said. Nobody knows if you are dead. At night, your little daughters say a prayer, they really wish that Daddy was here. The young wife you left behind is broken, her heart shattered into pieces and locked into a memory chest, never to be reopened.

So I stand here today, at the grave of the unknown soldier, to thank you for the bloody battle you fought so well and to wish you peace in heaven after a hellish death.

And although your loved ones are now dead, I still wish them the best. I hope they had a happy life and know that you didn't want to leave them behind.

My sacrifice can never compare to yours.

I salute you, unknown soldier.