The Soldier: back To The Battle Poem by Joe Fraccalvieri

I face an uphill battle--
each time I go to war
I hear the sabers' rattle…
I fear the cannon's roar

I've stayed too long in the saddle…
My arms and legs are so sore
I think of myself as chattel…
An image that's hard to ignore

When I finally got back to the barracks
I threw my frayed hat to the floor…
Wiping the tears and the dust from my face,
as I've done countless times before

Every tear that I shed is a soldier-- now dead,
whose name and face are enshrined in my mind
They reside in my head as I've cried in my bed,
but by light of day, they freely roam,
trying to find their way back home

I picked up my hat-- walked to my desk
when I recognized a knock at the door--
and the squeak of a hinge quite grotesque…
The kind of sound that cuts deep to the core!

'Pardon me, sir', said the Sergeant,
looking down at his boot with a shaky salute,
'You're needed on the battlefield'…
And it's back to the battle once more

I returned the salute and got on my horse--
for those things that I love and adore…
For my men-- my family-- my country…
And of course-- to an oath of allegiance I swore

It was for this reason
that I picked up a rifle--
strapped on a sword to the regalia I wore
My pain seemed to shout from each pore

But it occurred to me during the charge that I led,
when my men couldn't hear a word that I said…
I looked over my body…
The wounds which I suffered, no longer bled

All I had known, had suddenly fled
I was alone-- on my own…
To the world… I was dead!

But I felt no pain… No anger… No fear
And, from my eyes, not one single tear

And there-- in the sky…
An eagle and a dove
Then I heard God cry…
A cry of Love… Pure Love

And I felt the spirits of all those lost soldiers
descending from heaven above…
Like a soothing rain over fields of grain--
embracing my soul like a glove…