Ask The Soldier
Deborah
Venable
©2006
Ask the soldier how he feels
When the bell
of freedom peals,
When he
volunteers to go
And defend
against the foe.
Ask the
soldier how he feels
When the
politicians’ deals
Tie his hands
and make him ask
Why he’s there
to do a task.
Ask the
soldier how he feels
When a wound
that never heals
Throbs with
never ending pain
And it drives
good men insane.
Ask the
soldier how he feels
When the court
of justice wheels
Turn against
his smallest sin
And the good
can never win.
Ask the
soldier, if you dare,
If his
countrymen should care
How he does
the task at hand
In that tired
unfriendly land.
Ask the
soldier, if you dare,
How he lives
while he is there
With a sense
of grave alarm,
Under constant
threat of harm.
Ask the soldier,
if you dare,
Why the oath
he has to swear
Has a meaning
that he knows
Goes beyond
the status quos.
Ask the
soldier, if you dare,
If he thinks
that life is fair
To the family
that he leaves
Or the hell
that he receives.
Ask the
soldier why he fights
For our
ever-waning rights
When it seems
too few here care
That he does
his duty there.
Ask the
soldier why he fights
As he stands
the sleepless nights
So that we may
never know
The fears he
cannot show.
Ask the
soldier why he fights
For the weak
in all their plights,
When he could
ignore the call
And never
fight at all.
Ask the
soldier why he fights,
In traditions
of the knights,
Who defended,
then, a land
That would one
day cease to stand.
Ask the
soldier how he feels
As the
politicians’ deals
Send him off
to fight a war
Misnamed
“conflict” more and more.
Ask the
soldier how he feels
As opinion
clearly seals
His fate to
lose or die -
Betray his
honor with a lie.
Ask the soldier how he feels
As he bows his
head and kneels
By his fallen
buddy, who
Has a child he
never knew.
Ask the
soldier how he feels
When the
politicians’ deals
Fail to give
him what he needs
To accomplish
all their deeds.
Ask the
soldier and you’ll know
Why he
volunteers to go
When the land
he loves becomes
A target for
the bums.
Ask the soldier
and you’ll know
When the tears
begin to flow
That he knows
what must be done
And the
“conflict” must be won.
Ask the
soldier and you’ll know
That the winds
of war still blow
Over every
peaceful land
Which refuse
to take a stand.
Ask the
soldier and you’ll know
That freedom’s
stars still glow
Where star
spangled banners wave
O’er the land
of the free, BECAUSE of the brave.