Somewhere far from home
In any language of the heart
The plane has dropped him in a
country of unfamiliar faces
and landscape
Training is now a part of the past
First combat to become
tomorrow his reality
A small fragment of familiarity
rubs up against his leg
and brings a smile
As he reaches to touch
the softness of his youth
now put behind him
a young soldier's thoughts
turn to home
and to the one person he knows
will understand his heart
A Soldier's Letter Home
Dear Mom
Somewhere over the rainbow
Is where I seem to be
It is not at all like the fairy tale
That you used to read to me
I wonder of tomorrow
When the battle has begun
If I will truly be the soldier
That I am told I have become
Are all that are around me
Secretly feeling just as I
Will all that you
Have taught me leave
When I look the enemy
In the eye
All of these months of training
To do the job that must be done
They tell us when it comes
Right down to it
We WILL pull the trigger of our guns
Should I be considered unworthy
Of this uniform I now wear
As I sit to write you this letter
I am just a little scared
Will I be able
To do what is expected
In the name
Of freedom's call
When I return
To ease my heart
Will I write within a poet's hall
Tonight I feel like a little boy
With a toy gun in his hand
Will tomorrow I be forced to kill
Will I then feel like a man
To not many
I could write these words
I know you will understand
These whisperings of my heart
Now written in my hand
I will do what is asked of me
I will gladly do my part
But for tonight ....
I am just your Son
Speaking from my heart
Please Mom pray for me
I will make yourself
And my country proud
I stand ready to do
What is now before me
I am just not sure
I can live
With the how
As I lay my pen aside
And close my eyes to sleep
I pray that who
Has always been myself
I will somehow keep