by Cpl. Robert L. Cook
Jan. 1942-Sept. 1945
Does time travel
on golden wings
or drift across
a languid sky?
Does it speed
on lightning’s flash
to blind an open eye?
To find an answer to it all
look deep within yourself,
For only there can you find
if time serves you best.
I have known
some moments when
time stood very still,
I waited for the signal
to take a bloody hill.
With every tick
of the sergeant’s watch,
my heart beat in time
until we all rushed forward
across a scrimmage line.
Time can be a pleasure,
time can be a plague,
time can be the answer
to an old, old age.
Take it up and use it,
waste not a single tick!
It is the most important
of God’s many gifts.
* * *
The author: Robert Cook served with Regimental Weapons Co. (2d-2d) from 1942-44, at Guadalcanal
and Tarawa during a 33-month overseas tour.
Robert's latest
book: Poems By A Marine
TIME
Click here to
read a review of Robert's novel.
