West Point Class of '54

They gathered at the table in
The commonest of space,
The dinette off the kitchen,
An inauspicious place.
They talked about the glory days,
Now many decades done,
When they were brave and strong and bold;
When they were all so young.
The memories and laughter poured
From every lip and heart;
The friends now lost, the scattered ones,
The ones there from the start.
And there, for just an hour or so,
Those soldiers, now retired,
Recalled the dreams, relived the deeds
That made them so admired
By soldiers who now fill the boots
That once were theirs to fill.
Those men who answered to the call
And love that calling still.