Fort Casey

Fort Casey stands ready
to repulse
that terrorist
the Hun
whose navy
might even now sail
down Puget Sound.

"We'll stay the course
for 100 years,"
says the old soldier
before his nurse can
wheel him away,
shaking her head.

One generation's paranoia
gives way to the next
leaving empty gun emplacements,
crumbling concrete,
the shouts of children
replacing the rough shouts
of a frustrated sargeant,
attempting to mold soldiers out of boys
on a wind whipped Saturday.
Will we never learn?