Soldiers-Part One

I stood among soldiers.
Young.
Eager.
Hesitant.
Despairing?

Have you ever felt a heart's cry?
I think I felt their heart's cry.

Before you send me into battle...
they cried.

Before you send me into battle...
remind me again-
Who it is I'm fighting for?
Who is sending me?
Who will I come home to?
Who will search for me?

Before you send me into battle...
remind me again-
What it is I'm fighting for?
What is my position?
What is required of me?
What awaits me there?
What am I to wear?

Before you send me into battle...
remind me again-
Why am I fighting?
Why me?
Why must I win this war?
Why do I feel so unprepared?

Before you send me into battle...
remind me again-
Where is the battle plan?
Where are the secrets hidden?
Where are my battle clothes?
Where is my leader?
Where do I belong?

Before you send me into battle...
remind me again-
When will I feel ready?
When will the war begin?
When will I be on the front line?
When will I know what to do?

Before you send me into battle...
remind me again-
How to get ready.
How to engage in battle.
How to know when to retreat.
How to lose a skirmish
and then return to the war.
How to use the weapons I have.
How to be a team.

Before you send me into battle...
remind me again-
Am I strong enough to fight?
Can I fight with unhealed wounds?
What will happen if I fall?
How will I find my way back
if I get lost?
Why should I trust my fellow warriors?
When can I come home?
Where do the wounded go?

If I am a casualty of war
will I be replaced with another
and then be forgotten?
If I am missing in action
will you come looking for me
never stopping until you find me?
If I embarrass you, fail you,
or am not as promising as you had hoped,
will you love me anyway?
Will you then be especially near?
Will you weep and hold me if I die?

Before you send me into battle
remind me again-
Who?
What?
Why?
Where?
When?
How?
Will?

I stood among soldiers
and I felt their hearts cry.