Used To Be So Young

By DeafSoldier

When the Germans invaded,
I signed up for the Army,
I will fight with my friends,
To drive them out of the Motherland.

My mama told me, before I left:
"Now son, it doesn't matter how many Germans you kill,
Or how many medals you get,
But it's how many people you set free."

When I fought at Stalingrad,
I killed my Germans,
As they gunned my friends down,
In that massacre, in the Square.

As we marched into Germany,
We stormed into Berlin.
We tore the burning buildings down,
As we raised the red flag high,
As we burnt the Reichstag down.


I met my first American,
Said he was from Mobile, Alabama,
He had the same farmer's face
He didn't look much different from me.

When I found out they surrendered,
We celebrated for days.
Soon, I'd be going home,
To see my mama again.

They put us on the train,
Said they'll take us to Kiev,
And after that, we make our own way home.
But we never arrived to Kiev. I never got home.

They took us north,
Stripped us of our uniforms,
They gave us a number, threw us in a gulag,
All because Stalin was afraid we'd become too westernized.

Used to love my country,
Used to be so young,
Would have died for my country in 1945,
But now only one thing remains,
The brute will to survive.

Unauthorized Copying Is Prohibited. Ask the author first.
Copyright 2013 DeafSoldier
Published on Monday, September 2, 2013.     Filed under: "Poetry"

Author's Note:

Some Soviet soldiers got thrown into Gulags when the war ended.
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Comments on "Used To Be So Young"

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  • FadedBlues On Tuesday, September 3, 2013, FadedBlues (2172)By person wrote:

    ...great title. brutal & fascinating, the history of war...

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