lost but never forgotten

I wrote this this week in my writing class at school, its about a random soldier in the first world war.

His birth brought his mother to tears.
Diapers, toys, playing with neighborhood boys.
On his tenth birthday, his father died, but he had no time to cry.
He became the man of the house. His siblings asking “when is daddy coming home”.

Education was a mere thought. He became a dropout by the age of twelve.
He received some news on his sixteenth birthday.
Two weeks later he kissed his mother goodbye.
Not knowing he’d never return or what he was doing to his family.

The war made a man out of the boy. He prayed for his family and himself daily
In a way he needed that connection with God.

Letters from home flashed back to his childhood.
He missed being Dad’s bud, and Mom’s baby.
Wiping his tears, head held high, he’d head back into battle.

Questions embedded in his mind.
What if he didn’t survive? What would it do to his family?
The boy inside the man had enough. He wanted to return home.
His wish was granted. Months after he left home, he’d be on that boat back to Newfoundland.

Days short of his homecoming his men went into battle. Sixty-eight men were left untouched by he was not one of them.

He came into the world with a cry that brought his mother to tears.
Years later her little boy was lost forever.Lost but never forgotten.