On Orlando

Bullets not only shatter glass and bodies,

They shatter ties and dreams

Unfulfilled quests and ideas,

Frequently lead to tragic things.

For those that came to the end,

Facing death heroically,

Those grazed by danger, yet survived,

Now losing faith in humanity.

Random violence is not random,

When hatred lives in your heart.

The heart beating ticks like a time bomb,

Blowing precious lives apart.

Let us remember that words uttered.

Hateful and said with shame.

They are as powerful as gunshots,

And they help us shoulder the blame.

We should collectively remember,
Not leave this in the past,

For blinking lights and ringing phones,

Make for a ghastly epitaph.

--© 2016 by Sonya Dickerson

Dreaming of Okinawa

When the soldier goes to bed at night,

And he closes his eyes.

He dreams of Okinawa,

And all the men that died.

The bullets flying over head,

With the sand at his feet,

He prayed that God would watch over him,

He had promises to keep.

Many soldiers lost their lives.

On one fateful day.

He found God on the Battlefield.

As she shouldered his rifle to pray.

He locked eyes with one maiden.

Before she leaped to her death.

He tried to forget her and move on,

Soon realizing that he never left.

Marching through her jungles,

Blind to her beautiful land.

But soldiers can't see beauty,

When death is close at hand.

When he thinks of Okinawa,

And her beautiful sandy shore.

He wondered if things were different?

Could he have done more?

To save his fallen comrades.

As they died one by one,

Was it worth all the human cost?

For the battle to be won?

His battle wounds have since healed.

But his heart remains on her shore.

The two will always be one in the same,

Okinawa and he, forever more.

© Sonya Dickerson 2015

I wrote this poem to every US and Allied soldier that fought in the Pacific Theatre. The fighting on this little island was ferocious...as it was on Saipan and Iwo Jima. I hope and pray that this world will find peace and war to be something we did in the past. I pray that our children's children can figure out how to live with each other in a global community without having to shed each other's blood.

A Paladin Without a King: Robert Gould Shaw

To Robert Gould Shaw....

A reluctant Knight in the beginning
It was to be a troubled start,
But his character and youthful wisdom,
Was emblazoned on his heart.
He was given a great challenge.
To persuade those who weren't quite there,
But he remained on the side of Justice,
Equality, Truthful, and Fair.
This reluctant Knight soldiered on,
A paladin without a King.
Loyalty, Honor, and Bravery,
Which the Truth will always bring.
He earned his place in history,
Before being buried amongst his men.
An insult intended to bring dishonor,
Brought him honor time and time again.
He won the hearts and minds of many.
With the respect that these men had won,
This reluctant Knight now forever valiant
To Him and the fallen 54th, "Well done!"
What could have been of these honorable men?
Whose legacy remains unmarred.
He couldn't have had a better company in death,
Nor a better bodyguard.

BY SONYA DICKERSON

Why write a poem to a man that died over a hundred and fifty years ago? Many people have watched the movie, "Glory," in which Matthew Broderick, Cary Elwes, Denzel Washington, and Morgan Freeman starred in 1989. It was one of the greatest Civil War movies made of all time according to the critics.

This movie was very good and still can't watch it without crying, even though the writers took great liberties with the story, even going as far as creating fictional characters.

The Confederates thought they were insulting this great man when they left him in a mass grave full of Negro soldiers but what better way to die amongst the men that revered and respected him the most?

Rest in Peace Colonel.