My cousin is a soldier.
A real soldier.
A man with his feelings
Kept close to the chest
A man who’s seen war
And the worst of our suffering
A man who’s sweat for a country falling apart
And a world
In need of proper men

In all his history
He has never entered battle like this
Saying goodbye to
Our
Matriarch
The hardest job of all
The closure we fight to win
But never really wish to choose
And to me
His wide eyed little cousin That’s the bravest thing
Of all.
And tomorrow
He will come and go.
Kept close to the chest.
Filled with sorrow.
And like a man he will leave
Filled with pain and honor
Because my cousin is a soldier
A real soldier.