Foreign bound

** Foreign Bound **
Marching away with a song in your heart
Those so distant made warmer by parting
Unsure if your ever coming back
Your smile lingers ever uncertainty
Nobody showed you how to deal with such civility
Everyone beset with the same damn curiosity
How does it feel to be going to war
Are your nervous has training made you sore
Their eyes want to thank you
And handshakes are a trifle too long
Somethings not right there is something wrong
Are they already practising reaction to your name
As it is read by head of armed forces
A brief retelling of who and what for
Another casualty in a distant strange war
You know why we are fighting
Only need to see
The bombed out schools empty
The fanaticism which resides
Deep in the soul of your enemies eyes
With slouch hat and rifle sent on your way
Still feel their eyes boring inside you
Seeking the truth if they could exchange with you
Would they dare go or would they surrender
To safer instincts far from the slaughter
Far from the bullets and unexploded mines
Far from a country which can't picture mine
There something they all wish they could say
But even the Christians no longer pray
Their eyes and their bodies want to envelope you
Hold you back from what you must do
Safe in their lives ever suburban
Safe in front of televisions
Day ahead mapped out certain
Not having to worry about a device
Hurriedly buried somewhere you might tread
Not having to fear of not coming back
Always been the way since Greeks went to war
Persians and Romans and Brits and Russians before
Facing their fears on land inhospitable
A people tough and proud and never being feeble
March away with a song in your heart
Hoping the hope this is only the start
Of a journey to relate in your dotage
To children who marvel at your courage
And you feel the same then as you do now
Wondering if you will be strong enough
To do what you must
March through Persian sunsets with taste of the dust
In your mouth and deep down your throat
The dry dust of fear with which you must cope
Every moment you are living and dying
Aiming to come back whole and alive
Prove to these people you could survive
Those people who shake your hand and needlessly linger
As your heading outward bound.