Honoring the First Man to Refuse to Serve in Iraq...

...marine, Stephen Funk. I dedicate this verse to him (I keep rewriting it so I cannot guarantee that it is the final final version -- and, in fact, the version I first posted here has been changed about four times later on):



The Deserter

Walking away from the battle,
I left my former self behind.
I was silk shadow for a time.
I slid along walls. I did not mind

leaving the Honor that makes men cattle.
I hope now to be, and to have, a friend.
Wander on, warrior that I used to mime.
As you pass, you free me to be Kind.