Early Risers

Military Review,  March-April, 2006  by Jeffrey Alfiers

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

Early Risers

   Across the dim parade field that foregrounds
   the vista, crows in fir trees wrought like spires
   watch barracks wake in synchronous lighting
   where young men rouse to demands for order.

   They move out in rows of compliant minds,
   their last letters from home held close in thought--each
   caring word faithful to cadenced steps
   as crows rise, scatter, and merge into clouds.

--Major Jeffrey Alfiers, USAF

COPYRIGHT 2006 U.S. Army CGSC
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning