Launched by strains of Auld Lang Syne Leaving all that he had known For love of far greater purpose Glory! Ambition! The throne!
The code of morality Death to our enemy But don’t ask why Life to our legacy But don’t ask why
The flags wave highest That most proudly sends their sons to war Waving at the end of decency Or is it the beginning that we fight for
For what is decency Except to spare the life of the enemy Yet that is not our charge It is not to show mercy or remedy Instead it is to march triumphantly Never counting the dead Only the medals pinned to a chest Only the horrors lining his head
And though exhorted to turn the other cheek Forgiveness is only a bent knee on a rug He has received his pardon on this earth For all that WILL be done before his grave is dug
But not for bats disrupted by gunfire With shadows forming lattice lace upon rocks for the sacrament But the sands once shifted by God’s breath Is now ink made holy by the holder of the parchment
What coward would accept condemnation Rather than death by enemy sword, sharpened By the exceptionalism of old men Whose achievements canonized but burdened In their own minds Forgetful as they grow into legend Excepting of their own courage In the stories they imagined
Giving white feathers but not for honor To those who plant flowers in rifles Flowers loved by Kings and Queens Who smell them while reading lifeless bibles
Those loved by their mothers Faceless as they march The song of glory speaking of freedom While they pass the closing doors of the arc Their wives would rather weep tears of pride Than of tears of shame But what difference to his soul Rising for what purpose or game?
To honor his family or his God?
Going down with the ship Accepting the bullet from the front Falling not upon his sword but upon that of the savage For that is how to die like we want There is no reason that must be validated Victory or defeat He gave his life without question And now his name is on a street
But still, the sun rises again Callously living without purpose For no man can touch its soul No sword can plunder its surface No words can destroy its pride No tragedy can darken its rays No, it is the earth that must rise and set Living waiting until the end of days
And the coward drew small comfort from this Knowing nature is an idle spectator As is a flame at the end of a spear A fire that only kills and not worth dying for
But a spear in the hand of a subject Serves only its King While the flower he picks prepares to die Dishonorable and in shame For though they may were once beauty It is only to mark the graves And line the path of solemn remembrance For those who hope that God saves