In my time,
Also in yours,
Much is left behind,
All at great cost.

Nothing kept like memory,
Nothing real or true,
Nothing but the heartfelt virtue,
Deep and far within.

Leave behind emotion,
Leave behind despair,
Leave behind your hopes and dreams,
You'll know why when you arrive.

Journey quick, O child of mine,
Get thee fast unto the temple.
Keep in mind your life's advice,
For all it might be worth.

Strafing through the midnight forest,
Dodging trees and animals,
The child hastens, ever quicker,
Underneath the twilight sky.

Like the sphinx' riddle,
Or the hydra's heads,
Will yourself through the impasse,
All for what it's worth.

Nowhere left to go,
Trapped in a far-off land,
The child cries for his mother,
Insurmountable fear is rising.

He knows he must go on,
But knows not yet how far,
And so he keeps on trekking,
To the far-off fields of battle.

The child grasps his coat tightly,
Wandering amidst unkown peoples,
Moving forward, ever forward,
Wondering what it's worth.

Lightly sleeping by the roadside,
He doesn't rest 'til far past sunset.
Dishevelled and unclean,
He moves again at daybreak.

Stepping forward, he's almost there,
He sees camp in the distance.
He starts to pick up speed,
When he realizes he was wrong.

In territory of enemy,
He's nowhere else to go.
He submits, but they don't care,
There are no prisoners here.

He is slapped down to his knees,
and forced to sit there, still.
A gun is raised to the back of his head,
And with one shot, he's dead.

And none will ever hear from him,
And none will ever know.
This, the price, the pain of war,
Is this really what it's worth?