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PLAYING WAR
The neighbor boys go out to play war
in the dirt mounds of the backyard.
They return with scrapes and bruises;
an occasional welt from a dirt clod to the head.
The young men continue to play war;
leaving their sons at mothers' breasts.
Their homecoming wielding bandages and purple hearts
or bugle taps and a folded flag.
The old men restless at evening's
approach;
startled by the sounds in the street
and no one will be able to stop playing war.
1994 - revised 1/98
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