Mother’s Little Soldier

~

in those fledgling years

of my early adolescence

my mother’s words would

often ring in my ears

as clearly as the church clock,

a good soldier

always looks behind him

and keeps his rifle clean,

somewhat strangely these 

were her euphemisms 

to remind me to regularly 

polish around the heels of my shoes

and also, to routinely inspect 

myself, beneath my youthful foreskin,

for what hidden treasure there

I never really understood

or ever found,

*

© Graham R Sherwood 11/23