Returning from the warm-up bunker
soup and coffee in one hand
M-16 in the other
halted at every hole
password given
lights of the fence
guiding my way
getting to the last light
movement corner of my eye
I turn to see
little knee highed deer
just looking at me
he standing unafraid
quietly I empty my hands
try to load the 16
grease is froze
this not Viet Nam
pulling the magazine
I chamber one round
look to see him leaving
walking with no cares
he disappears in bushes
I fire anyway
and hear a scream
like a mortally wounded woman
I continue on
and get to my position
in time to hear radio crackling
"who fired that round".....