Predestination

by Nick Orton

Like father,

Like sons.

Legacy runs deeper than blood.

Boiling beneath the ego of boys,

Yearning to be men.

Camo paint on our faces,

Playing War wasn’t just a game.

Is it really free will?

When it’s all you know.

Naive minds and testosterone,

Make dangerous bedfellows,

To prodigal boys who yearn for a tribe.

Like great grandfather.

Like grandfather.

Like father.

Like sons.

Like brothers

Predestination is a farce,

When this is what you were born to do.

_________________________

Deadlined Poetry is a literary side project of two brothers getting a lot wrong and a little right along the way. Featuring poetry of life, pain, humor, and times in a “peacetime” Army and Marine Corps. Occasional poetry can be viewed at: @Deadlined_Poetry (Instagram). “Nick Orton” is the author of the two poems “Predestination” and “Laughter and Pain”

Nick is an active-duty member of the US Army and logistics officer. He has had a long-standing love of writing and has begun his own writer’s journey. He has authored the book “Tales From The Grid Square Volume I,” a collection of 240 stories from across the branches of the US Armed Forces as well as foreign militaries of strange events and instances. He can be reached through the Instagram account @Tales_From_The_Gridsquare or email: TalesFromTheGridSquare@gmail.com.