Army Men

As a boy I would play with toy men in the back:
Army men would endure my relentless attack
from the limestone and pebbles I lobbed at their rank
as they stood by the road or on jeep-rutted bank.

Now fast-forward with me to a school by the bay
that I happened to visit one September day
where the Army “invaded” (an Army event),
to seek technicians gladly for their regiment.

I saw tanks ala Sherman*, though war vintage died;
the new modern-day tanks have a laptop inside.
And the shells that are fired through barrels so great
have a penchant to rearrange and devastate.

They displayed armament like an antique car show;
khaki color ubiquitous--so apropos.
Unlike Chevy’s with fins, its one purpose was plain;
‘long as man rules the planet, then war will remain.

I went over to rifles that gleamed in the sun
and beseeched a lieutenant if I could hold one.
He obliged and I realized one firearm
in the hands of one person could do ample harm.

Army boots black as shine and insignias rife;
mess kits modern like microwaves--Swiss Army Knife.
As I grinned, one old Sergeant spoke plainly and sure:
“We are the modern Army, yet some things endure!”

When I saw a recruiter, a colonel to wit,
(like Sean Connery in his prime, rugged and fit),
with his blue steely eyes he looked smartly at me
and decreed in a strong voice, “Be all you can be!”

I climbed onto a personnel carrier wide
seeing Army men standing in line, full of pride.
Like wheeled armor, this behemoth transport extant
was like surface expansion while I was an ant.

They then showed me a truck with electronic gear;
“Here we see all we see, and we hear all we hear.”
“We are twenty-first century computer right;”
“we can storm through the desert by day or by night.”

‘Round the school was an army with mortar and gun;
(there are many a battle that have to be won.)
Modern Army event shames the armies of then
though I still reminisce about my Army men.


40 Lines
Anapestic Tetrameter
Writer’s Cramp
9-24-15

*The Sherman Tank, officially Medium Tank, M4, was the most numerous battle tank
used by the United States and some other Western Allies in World War II.