.

As a boy even his play was well ordered
He would never use army men and Indians
in his mock battles.
That didn’t make sense
both were from a different time
His toy soldiers were lined up according to rank
always at the ready

His building sets always had to be completely built
with just the right amount of windows and doors
When he played with his girders and panels play set
all the panels had to match,
while his older brother would just slop
something together just to destroy it.

He always played alone because of that.
Playtime was recreational but it had its rules
and he knew someday he would pass these values on
when he had a son.

Years later when after his son was born and a bit older
he would go into his room to clean up.
There on the floor was a platypus of scattered toys
Lincoln Logs half built,
erector sets framed out in disarray
Legos that looked like my brother came in and destroyed half the building
Army men and cowboys all standing together
battling Indians in a sandbox
with just One army man laying down.
Other times it was transformers or GI Joes facing off
and again only One GI Joe laying down

He would walk out of the room shaking his head
It just didn’t make any sense
The scenes all seemed so random
He remembered back to his childhood and the many soldiers
that lay sideways on the floor after his battles
Now that was realism
Why always just One he wondered
But hey play was just play and his son was not him
So he just let it pass writing it off to a different imagination

It wasn’t until years later when his son got sent to Iraq
and word was sent to him
That he finally understood about
    the half buildings
              and
        the sand box
               and
The One Soldier Laying Down