Young Soldier

Wake up Dragan!

Don’t you notice you’ve fallen asleep?

Forty Years the world has changed,

Yet you remain at peace.

Your cheeks, still warm and flushed

Coated by the nectar of your soul

Remind me of a sweet fruit

Bashfully ripe— to be consumed.

I could stay with you forever

Joined by our eternal slumber.

With my head on your still chest

Together we’d lay silently

Atop flower coated beds.

But you are now a fragment of a life

Alone on this unforgiving earth.

The Mostar grass, your mattress 

The bloody uniform, your blanket