The razor runs over the boy’s head
He doesn’t move or flinch
Just stares ahead into oblivion
With deadlocked eyes
Into a future of unknown miseries
With eyes held firm in a choice
He had no part in making
They shave his head
Put a warm gun in his hands
And teach him how to kill
Teach him to steal a life without remorse
They say Learn fast boy
Or get ready to die young
They smack him around
Take the boy’s soft exterior
And turn it into cold hard stone
Rip out his heart and memories
Of a time when safety was a given
And love was always near
Take all that he ever knew
And throw it away
The boy soldier hefts up his gun
His lips sealed and dead eyes
He has nothing left
But the eternal fight for his soul
Everyone runs from him
Like he is a monster
Because he is a monster
One they made him into
Ripped him from his home
And gave him hate
To battle an unknown enemy
There is no escape for him
Just a bloody sentence
That he has no choice but to accept
They label him and fear all like him
And run at the sight of his gun
Run they yell
It is the boy soldier come home again
But he won’t let it continue
As he stands over the body
Of a little girl the same age as him
A bullet in her chest
Blood blooming on her white dress
Like a ruby flower blooming
A bullet he shot from his gun
The tip of the gun digs into the earth
As he falls to his knees beside her
He grips the dusty earth
As he watches the last breathes
Leave the dying angel
Look how far he has fallen
And for what, for whom
No more he swears to the dry earth
No more blood
He turns the gun around
In his rough scarred hands
Covered in dust and blood
They belong to an old man
Not a twelve-year-old boy
He put the gun to his head
And pulled the trigger
That he was taught to pull
One more time
The boy soldier fell
Next to the dead angel girl
There will be no more wars
For this tortured soul
No more rivers of blood
Just the peace he never had
But always deserved