A Soldier

I’ve been hit
This is it
I’m going to die
But I was lucky
It was just dirt that blinded me
And a bullet with its own dying gasp
But it hurt so bad
I thought about living
I couldn’t just walk away from it all
Then I realized I was ok
I wanted to live so badly
I finally realized the truth
I thought of my Mother
And my Dad
I got up
I had to live for them
And die for them too
Fear was no longer an issue
We say leave no marine behind
But we also never leave courage behind
There is a way a Marine must live
And it was time to run
Forward
Up the hill
We had to take it
We jumped over potholes
Holes made by our jets
And our artillery
We just had to kill them all
We had bayonets
It was going to be ruthless
There was no time for anything but victory
There is nothing more desperate than hand to hand combat
While people were carrying signs
I was carrying a gun
While people were fighting the police
I was fighting a stranger
I had to kill a man I would never know
Or he would kill me
I kept thinking
This is it
But I kept running
And everyone was with me
Courage was everywhere
Politics didn’t matter
Morality didn’t matter
We just had to take the hill
And we did
Even after three days of no rations
The choppers brought them in
We thought they were going to take us out of there
But instead we were ordered to take the hill
We had to order people to die
I don’t know how I can forget this
I ordered my best guy to die
He had to be the one
Because if he didn’t do it
We would all die
And now I carry that with me
Forever
When you look at me
Old
Wrinkled
Saluting
I’m thinking of him
That is why I am crying
And I will never forget
They say I’m a hero for freedom
But that day I was a warrior
And I didn’t think about freedom
I just thought about my guys
It was about us
We survived
And today I remember the sign on the tree
“Was it worth it?”