BATTLE

In a distant country, in a wounded battlefield

Fighting hard to keep your feelings concealed

Amid shots of bullets, cannons and guns

As an enemy soldier towards you runs.

Hands on your rifle and eyes on the territory

Before you occurs, bloodshed, murder and gory

Quick, you duck to miss the grenade

And run to find some shade

Behind the little boulder you hide

Into the rifle, the bullets you slide

You say a little prayer, hum a little chant

Hoping chances you will return aren’t scant

Before you, shuffle flashcards of memory

Of home, a car, a daughter and of family

The laughter at the dinner table and the routine bedtime fable

In the life of a soldier, separation is alas a label.

So you slide out of the boulder and rush to confront the foe

As you race across the field with nothing but your toe

You jump and take a shot, you fall and land on your chest

Before you, your whole lifetime slowly arrests

You watch him fall down, you watch his soul stream out

You’ve survived the day alive, no doubt

As you heave your wounded body into the bloody cold air

You can see the dead, lifeless bodies of the people for whom you care

By and by, you think. Inside your stern heart, you cry

You look for their souls as you stare up the sky

This is the life of a soldier. This is the story of your life

A life of bravery and hardship to be a part of the strife.