General Dispensation Addresses his Prostrate Army

A soldier has deprivation
to make him wise.

Thus do I dream -when I dream -
not of palaces, but of clean sheets;

not of sex, but of solitude;
not of gold, but of freshly baked bread.

A soldier has danger
to keep him honest.

Thus do I long - when I long -
not for clarity, but for camouflage;

not for divination, but for discipline;
not for salvation, but for sanctuary.

When we have run out of everything
but whiskey, dread, and chewing gum,

I will still have a kind of wisdom.
When we cannot fill an empty belly

or kill a cohort of bacilli,
I will still be esteemed as honest.

I will speak to you in the morning,
and I won't say you choose to stay

who are now too weak to flee.
I will speak to you in the morning,

until the rumble of the enemy
thunders over my simple message.

I will tell you that freedom is freedom -
If it's wrested from tyrants through battle,

or from judges through politic silence.
I will tell you that freedom is freedom -

if it's found in the ether of heaven,
or the folds of a soldier's exhaustion.