“Dearest Mother and Dad” he wrote,
blue ink forming his words
the page smeared where his tears had fallen,
despair etched on his face

He’d enlisted
knowing he would go to war
but proud to serve his country,
to be a human shield
between the enemy
and the people he loved,
his younger brother just one of them.

They’d always been close;
brothers and best friends,
 enlisted the same day,
entered the same regiment,
received the same call to war;
always together, side by side
even to the end.

His brother by blood, a brother in arms
taken by a landmine;
so many pieces, so much gore.

He opened his hand,
in his palm, a small brass badge
all that was left of a brother he loved so well.
He placed it in the envelope
then sealed it with a loving kiss.