A little boy stopped me today,
On my way past an overgrown field.
The one where the peewee teams play football.
He needled me,
"They'll put me in, right?"
And rambled.
"My daddy said he can't come to this game, by he'll come to the next one, won't he?"
He dreamed,
"I wanna be a soldier someday, and help people."
And my heart broke more and more as he kept talking.
Youth and innocence have their place.
So I walked on.

A tired man stopped me today,
Outside of my old high school.
His eyes were full of tears and madness.
"Please, for my sake, don't give in."
He sobbed.
"I don't want to end up this way."
His hands were scarred,
And his eyes scared.
"I want us to be better than this. I wanna be what we meant to end up as."
Age and wisdom aren't always synonymous.
So I walked on.

Past the field,
Past the school,
Past the struggling masses.

I stopped myself today,
On the edge of oblivion.
We're not done talking yet...