One night light on QRF
We’d been out all day, I felt like death

Ranger Corey was our TC
And dammit if I didn’t have to pee

Oh and with the humvee speakers he’s blaring Travis Tritt
Or some other boring old country music twit

See ole Corey had an anti-smoking passion
And he was keeping me smoke free in our war wagon

My eyes tired from scanning the gun camera screen
Constantly monitoring the never changing battle scene

Blinking like I am about to lose consciousness
How I was staying awake was anyone’s guess

Silently I curse all the deities
Covering my bases ’til I find out who did this to me

For hours in dark and endless heat
Not screaming in frustration a major feat.

Caught in my reverie
I wander how can this be

What did I do to deserve this
What in god’s name caused me to enlist

Suddenly I had thought that I never put in my head
An intriguing life changing voice spoke, here is what it said

“I am here.”
The thought echoed in my ears

Smiling, now, I lose all frustration
With an almost miraculous transformation
I have no more pressure, pain, anger, and agitation

I listen to everybody chatter
I realize the appearance of pain never matters

Because underneath all is a layer of joy
Pain and tribulations are but an illusory ploy

Distractions of the Samsara
Are meant distract and impair a

Souls ability to see
That which truly be

I didn’t catch why
Maybe I’ll learn after I die

The point that I learned
As a soul badge I earned

Is that even though it is far from swell
War itself is actually far from hell

It’s just a perfect storm
Like when cold air meets warm

And all involved are human girls and boys
Who all feel pains, frustrations, happiness, and joys

War, I learned, is just one more human condition
It’s not bad or good, it’s just two sides jockeying for position

And while we all feel horrible at times
Our enemies are just people no matter their perceived crimes

Enemies vary it seems
Usually it is just what we call the other team

But, as humans, underneath it we are all the same
Usually seeking simply comfort and joy as the goal to our games

Hajji makes bombs
We defuse them all night long

At the same time kids laugh and joke
We rush around looking for fires under the smoke

This madness gives us all a purpose
Even if we are here to only protect each of us

Apocalypse
It sits nicely on the lips

A word which often portends
To some sort of grand World’s end

Well things aren’t always what they seem
So, here’s something else this word could mean

An unveiling
Or grand revealing
Like a revelation
Happen to all kinds regardless of station

All holy books have stories of world evisceration
Allegorically derived they reveal paths of internal liberation

The great Armageddon
An unveiling of destruction

Of mindful illusions
And dangerous delusions

This war battles constantly
Internal struggles for us each to see

We were put here as warriors
To struggle peacefully within or

We fall on our face on the karmic floor
We came to this place for this internal war

It’s the name of the game
Ask the ocean and he’ll prolly tell you the same

This apocalypse is a door
This apocalypse helps you evolve to more

Than your fleshly desires
No longer limp like a puppet on wires

No, this is not a battle for the plains of Armageddon
This is more of a battle for your soul’s sacred freedom

Some folks will call it nirvana
You can call it anything that you wanna

For any open enough to hear
For all of those of who have struggled for years
Struggled without end to master and overcome their fears
For those with their open hearts and minds be of good cheer
For you the end is near