A Last Moment Caught

by Tom Sheehan

It comes again,
without prejudice,
in another millennium:
I know the weight of an M-1 rifle
on a web strap hanging on my shoulder,
the awed knowledge of a ponderous steel helmet
atop my head, press of a tight lace on one
boot, wrap of a leather watch band
on my wrist,

and who stood beside me
who stand no more.

Sheehan, in his 91st year, served in 31st Infantry, Korea 1951-52, graduated Boston College 1956, has published 32 books, multiple works in Rosebud, Literally Stories, Linnet’s Wings, Copperfield Review, Eastlit, Frontier Tales, Faith-Hope-Fiction, etc. He’s received 33 Pushcart nominations, 5 Best of Net nominations, other awards. Books include Beside the Broken Trail. Epic Cures; Brief Cases, Short Spans; A Collection of Friends; and From the Quickening. Four books in Pocol Press production cycle (Between Mountain and River; Catch a Wagon to a Star; Alone, with the Good Graces; and Jock Poems and Reflections for Proper Bostonians; and a novel, The Keating Script, at Hammer & Anvil Press.)