Unmarked Grave Poem by Chinwe Robert

UNMARKED GRAVE:

The grave on 20 Chesterfield avenue
One of many graves
Was once empty:
A space,
The poor fellow in it
Was once young
A lover of the flag
And of love
And on choosing
He chose the clothe
Leaving love
To love itself;

Wrote to love
On many and many a time;

Never kissed love
For the battle on Kruger hill
A thousand and many a mile
Separated them
And as time became time
The war grew strong
His love waged weak.
Time and a half
Passed
And the letters grew weaker
And as love should be
Hoped for the safety
Of lover afar
For in the battle of Kruger hill
The less he wrote
The more the injuries he sustained
Until certain a time
The poor little soldier forgot to write
And on that fateful day
Fought his last.

And so the grave on 20 Chesterfield avenue
One of many graves
Bore a casualty of war
Or rather a casualty of love.