A red flower erect in a cratered landscape
Perhaps a sign of life on an alien planet,
But here, a lying portent defacing the place
Where I remain alone on a sterile plain

Just moments before he waved me forward
To join him in our fellowship
As friends and brothers in service together
To stand united for love of country

Now only a bloodied hand remains
And reaches out from his unsought grave
A bloom of human immolation
In a bleak garden of devastation

His grave unmarked but for one red blot
That rises in defiance of why wars are fought.

AJD 8/17/2016