• A solider rises on bloody and quivering legs
    his vision a blur, his mind a quaking mass of confusion
    All around him, his brothers lie
    some in pools of their own life blood
    others, just not willing to return to the world of reality

    The scorched battlefield resembles that of hell
    A Burnt scarred land littered with the dead and dying
    with the thunder of cannon explosions complementing
    their final screams

    The solider closes his eyes
    seeking to join his brothers in their peaceful respite
    seeking to join them in deaths cruel but comforting embrace

    The solider closes his eyes...

    And sees his wife standing there
    As beautiful as she ever was
    wearing the same garb she was on the day he left
    his children are there too, holding the hem of her dress
    and they are all crying out for him to stand

    Than others start to appear
    friends
    family
    people the solider had never known
    but knew as well as he knew his own family
    They were all crying out for him to stand
    to get to his feet and fight
    Their cries reach a fevered pitch

    Suddenly the soldier's eyes snap opened
    and he grasp for his gun
    his quivering fingers taking it in a unsteady hold
    He puts the but of the weapon to the ground
    and pushes himself to a standing position
    Taking the gun in both hands
    he charges in the fray

    All around him, there is explosions
    there is gunfire
    and there is dying
    but the solider charges on
    A brutal ram on in this godforsaken land

    And around him
    he sees the others watching
    his fellow brothers in the trenches
    his siblings with mortal wounds
    and his family with their unseeing eyes

    Above the thunder of detonations
    above the screams of death
    the solider hears a cry
    and sees some of his brothers join him
    from the shadows emerging like an angels wrath from hell
    He sees more join shortly after that
    Jumping out of trenches
    some with no limbs right to be seen,
    and yet soldiering forth with only their pistols in their grasps
    more seek to join
    But their injuries have left them immobile
    But their brothers are there at their sides
    and grabbing them under the shoulders
    They struggle after the rest of us

    The solider sees his brothers
    and a faint smile breaks across his war torn face
    And as he reaches the line, the raises his rifle
    He thinks once more of his wife and children
    A tiny tear falls down his cheek
    washing away some of the dirt and blood
    and than blinking it away, the solider pulls the trigger
    and the gun roars, and there is a flash of fire...

    And onward we will fight
    the weak and the strong
    the full bodied and the lame
    We'll charge into a battle
    Of which the likes of winning are slime

    But we will fight
    for our loved ones
    not just our brothers of war
    both the living and dead
    but for our families back home
    for our friends we defend
    and wives and husbands
    for the sons and the daughters we bleed and die for

    We will not surrender
    The enemy will wound us
    the enemy will kills us
    but we will solider on
    into the darkness of death
    we will solider on

    And so Heres to you, Brothers and Sisters, fathers sons and daughters, husbands, wives, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and friends
    This is to you
    This is your victory
    one that is forever
    one that will never disappear into the darkness of history
    And so rest
    Rest and know

    That the first victory is yours
    so is the final moment