You may know a man's mind, but cannot know his heart
Until, with him at your side, in battle you take part,
For nothing less than death, its full fear and its loom,
Will ever pierce the cloak that men's hearts will assume.
It's only in some battle, whether right or wrong.
That is the truth the lonely, all but only, song;
Wherein the soul's exposed much like the beating heart
Seen in those bodies by the shells long torn apart.
Side by side, to survive, may battle any pair -
Bombs bursting almost star-like, in the air -
As either on the other has to full rely
Lest never may have either one chance not to die.
This terror state, for nothing less may these facts be,
All error in one's character may others see:
Disrobed, dishonored and dismayed to be revealed
A coward, a knave, a fool on the battlefield.
My God preserve the young from being so exposed
That war's and their own characters thus be disclosed,
When, even in survival, there be nothing gained
If one in battle lack of mettle one has stained.
1/01/08
Frederick
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