Reveille

For a friend in the military

It’s 1:28 in the morning, and I just realized
there are a lot of cities in America.

Odd to be thinking this
at 1:28 in the morning,
but there’s a city somewhere in America
with someone less sleepy than me
and far younger than me
with little prospects and star-filled eyes

who will soon be killing people
for me

like the person who is from another city in America
--a person who is many, many miles from here
who is much more sleepy than me
and has witnessed much more than me
with little hope and haunted eyes.

He wishes he weren’t killing people for me.
He wishes he were in any city but the one he’s in.
He wishes he had torn out his star-filled eyes.
He wishes I were doing much more than sitting
pondering Life in my black computer chair
in my city at 1:28 in the morning.