Guest of the Nation Poem

They came as prisoners

They were strange lads

Our superior wouldn’t like how much we laughed

They met the old lady

And she liked them too

It’s hard to believe some of the things that we do

We lied to their faces

Then took them outside

After the first shot I almost cried

They came as prisoners

We shot them dead

But in the end they were still our friends

My poem is meant to describe the events that occurred in Guest of the Nation. Belcher and Hawkins were meant to be prisoners of war held captive by Noble and Bonaparte but they all eventually grew to become very good “chums”. Belcher always aided the old woman in the house even though Hawkins resented her and the two of them along with Noble and Bonaparte played cards together quite often. When intel was given to the guards that four of their men had been shot by the enemy they had no choice but to eliminate Belcher and Hawkins in retaliation. Bonaparte was never the same again. A major topic in Guest of the Nation is brotherhood which I portrayed in my poem. The beginning of my poem describes a happy relationship between the parties at hand but at line 6 my poem hits a turning point, it starts to become dark and miserable as the plot did in the actual story. It is also an accurate reflection of Hawkins and Belcher’s feelings, the two were kept in the dark and made to believe Noble and Bonaparte were their chums with Hawkins even claiming “They aren’t the kind to shoot a pal!” unfortunately things took a turn for the worst and Bonaparte and Noble met their untimely demise. A pathetic ending for such a promising beginning. Was it right of Noble and Bonaparte to kill Hawkins and Belcher or should they have found a way out to maintain their brotherhood?