TO ALL VETERANS TODAY OF ANY BRANCH:  THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE

Toy Soldiers

My father made them when he was a boy.

Made them from liquid lead poured into molds.

My brother and I played with them frequently

for years as we planned our war strategies and our futures.

They were as much a part of our childhood

as any other toys we had.

How brave they were!

We used to imagine the lives that they led,

their names, where they had come from.

We gave them personalities

based on the people we'd met or observed.

So much that we knew about life

was assigned to those toy soldiers.

Like all good soldiers,

they sacrificed themselves for our sake,

as they melted in the house fire of 1979.

They took our place

to burn while the rest of us were away.

I'm glad we saluted them

and thanked them for their service

while we had the chance.

© Imbler, 2017

The Value of Shadows by Linda Imbler

June 2018

The remains of the night’s rain lay soggy upon

the waterlogged branches of limp, bowed trees,

appearing as the hunched, angled, stooped

backs of many old men walking here.

I caught a shape in the mist that

reminded me of you, or

perhaps I was just imagining

you and your soldiers returning

to the spot you had fought so hard to hold.

As the sun peeked through,

I remembered these were only trees,

although I gratefully recall it was here,

sixty years ago,

that your battalion won the day.