I'm going to conglomerate all the poems I plan to post here instead of in separate posts. The first one: The Chance We Take.

The Chance We Take
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This is the chance we take, my dear.
It is a chance of a lifetime,
But it'll kill you in the end.
This is the chance to travel to foreign lands,
To see things you may never see otherwise.
This is a chance to serve your country.
A chance to give back to those who've served before you.
But it is also a chance to die.

Remember this when you are on the front line.
Remember that this was your choice,
It's always been your choice, your chance.
But also remember that it is your life.
Remember that when you go out there, you might not come back.
Do not forget this.

And when you are sitting in the trenches,
Drenched with sweat from the desert heat
Or soaked throughout with monsoon rain,
You can remember the nice warm bed you gave up for this.
You can remember the friends who urged you not to go,
Who feared that you would die.

Now, can you picture your mother's face,
The tears streaming down her cheek,
When they come to tell her that you have passed on,
When you have died in battle.
Will you bear witness to the grief she bears?
Can you take that chance?
This is the chance of a lifetime, my dear.
It is the chance we take.

Written at 2:35 p.m. PST on October 28th, 2002

When December Comes
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When December comes,
Don't look to me for warmth in the night.
You weren't there last December
When the cold got too deep.

When April pours,
Don't look to me for shelter from the rain.
You left me last year in the deluge,
Left me standing by the door.

When July blisters,
Don't look to me to carry you across the hot sands.
You made my feet into a fire,
Waiting on the white heat.

When September blows,
Don't look to me to brush the hair from your face.
You let the wind blow my heart
Down the street together with the leaves.

When December finally comes,
Don't expect me to care when you're cold.
You already froze my heart with your shoulder,
You cast me out into the rain,
Left me standing on the dead coals at the beach,
Cast my heart into the leavings.
And now, if you care,
Well, I don't.

Written at 2:46 a.m. PST on November 20th, 2002