A Soldier's Cry

Ah, all through it all

I find myself piling on endeavors

Unforgiving to the penance I seek

To justify the means to an end

Fasting through the trials

Of calamities that I've endured,

I face myself standing perplexed

At the edge of the world

The sweat glistens of my brow,

Gleaming my face with the purging

Of its eternal sacrifice to

Relegate my place in this world…

Clock in, night out

A routine that spins redundant

Around the roar that rages inside of me,

With nothing but the past

Inside this prison box

That vexes my distant dream…

Ah, if only I could draw a different picture

And regress into a new reality?

For those voices of long ago

Still pain inside of me…

Living on a wage,

That seems to disintegrate,

Before I realize the years that have ached bye,

Oh so bye…

Slaving endlessly on the clock

For a miserable wage,

As the master's hand preserves the lash

Unleashing his torrent upon my back;

While disciples of the toil

Unrelenting to the task at hand

Face the scrutiny to trial their hopes

For a universal longing

To end their bitter discord…

Ah, how the sweet taste of wine

Regresses that tranquil moment of peace

On a conquest of youth

When I was in my prime,

And how that reminiscent time

Of passion fades

With the ongoing lethargy

Of this place

For rations unfit for a slave…

Those beautiful delights

In sweet nectar

On curves of exquisite charm

Sustained my desire to bathe in its incense,

…Contrite to the social upheaval

Polluting its moral concept

About my obsessional quest

For a utopia of indulgences

Now as the sun sets

With my departure approaching,

I dread coming home

To the same old awakening

Of misery indwelt within its walls

A nagging, unappreciating wife

Consumes me with the heartbreak

And bewildered longing

For my revelation to unfold,

To wither away the curse

That storms through the portals

Of its sadistic agenda

Ah, how memories and melodies

Of a turbulent time receive

Their adoration in full,

Witnessing its ongoing folly

To trial my broken embrace

Forever surfacing

For an eternal purpose

On tears that drown

That ill-fated existence,

I establish a distance

Surveying other ventures

Of commitment

To new heights

Of importance and prominence,

…Tearfully ending

My eroding circumstances in joy…

Iraq has its scourge

Awaiting me,

Undertaking the courage

And valor I've disciplined myself

For vindication

Reaching the dominance

Of its highest plateau,

I rest myself assured

Of immortality

In the epic unraveled