All the Men We Used to Kill

Sometimes I think about the past, The life we knew would never last, And all the men we used to kill, And that great void they used to fill, And that great spell we used to cast. Under the sun and in the heat, Our enemies dead at our feet, I thought I’d die there in the sand, And for the future never planned. But still, those memories are sweet. We bravely answered battle’s call, Brothers, sisters, family all Who know when I say sacrifice I speak of those who gave their lives And with their deaths our own would stall. Those to whom that life appeals, The ones whose fractures souls war steals Will never after be the same, For some win glory, some win shame, And yet each shattered soul still feels. I still feel it to the bone, The shame of taking lives unknown. Unnamed and faceless men were they, Their crime was getting in my way; For their deaths I can’t atone. I visit graves of brothers still, Those who died by war and will As well as those I loved and lost And those who paid the greatest cost, And all the men we used to kill.