everything is a joke-- i look up and only see children

it was not war

who landed a killing blow

our war torn tin soldier

frozen in blanc snow

not rubber concrete bombs

blasts of confetti shatterings

not night-terror tremors

of kaleidoscope euphemisms

peace did him in

his polyester strip jacket  

the waiting in the cold

a dog and his lost master

a master, the boy

with new playthings now

tariffs and sentimentalities 

a true teenage slouch

and our tin soldier

was left forgotten in the snow