DRUMMER
By Cynthia Cotten


Tonight is quiet.


Tomorrow
there'll be fighting.


My first battle.


I'll be brave

in the morning

as I set the pace:

rat-a-tat

rat-a-tat

rat-a-tat-tat-tat


Men will march

many to their deaths

as I spur them on:

rat-a-tat

rat-a-tat

rat-a-tat-tat-tat


But

tonight

I wish my ma was

here.


"Sleep tight -

sweet dreams,"

would be

right fine

words

to hear.

AMERICA AT WAR POEMS Selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins Text copyright © 2008 Used with permission of Margaret K. McElderry, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing.