convictions of heart and soul

when you asked me to soldier for you

and asked me to raise my gun for the

true convictions of this country and 

those deep within this patriotic heart 

it is i who will do the soldiering and

i who in battle, if not the body the soul

is lost and it will be my love ones who'll
carry pain and suffer, who'll pay the cost

tell me what it is your country stands for

in morals, ethics, integrity, human kindness
in a flag and its anthem and when it asks of me
and others like me of this ultimate request

does it give worth to the toll of humans lost

when i am sent into another sovereign land

to impress upon them that their convictions 
are seeming threats to my children, my family, 
my home by the virtues of their heart and hand

yet if we can learn how to speak to each other,

change the mindset  of, that, 'killing is the answer',

then our flags could fly in the wind of  understanding

our anthems would play alongside with one another

if we gather our voices in harmony harkening in
praises of the uniqueness of each other’s land and
recognize our differences realizing what separates

us are only the mountains, the oceans and the sand

we are all born with eyes, legs, and hands, the
same red blood runs through them when awake and
while asleep, sharing the air we breathe, the water
we drink and consume the gifts that Nature reaps

until we realize that knowledge is the answer to the

hate and an empty heart's woes, and to those who try

to lead us into a darkness, we shall shun and ignore you

for Love is the answer, let it reap within our tattered souls.



*for Magaly Guerrero's: Beautiful Freak's Fest, 2017