A Soldier's War Experience

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A Soldier's War Experience
By Don Blanding.
A Veteran of two wars wrote these Terrifying & Inspiring lines:

What did you see, soldier? What did you see at the war?
I saw such glory and horror as I've never seen before,
I saw men's hearts burned naked in red crucibles of pain;
I saw such Godlike courage as I'll never see again.

What did you hear, soldier? What did you hear at war?
I heard prayers on lips of men who had never prayed before;
I heard the men utter thoughts they will never think again;
I heard the sacred things they will not speak again.

What did you eat soldier? What did you eat at war?
I ate sour bread of fear, the acrid salt of gore, my lips burned with
wine of hate, the scalding drink of Cain. My tongue has known a
bitter taste I would not taste again.

What did you think, soldier? What did you think at war?
I thought, how strange we have not learned from wars that raged
before, except new ways for killing, new multiples of pain.
Is all the blood that men have shed but blood shed in vain?

What did you learn, soldier? What did you learn at war?
I learned we must learn sometime what was not learned before;
that victories won on battlefields are victories won in vain.
Unless in peace we kill the germs that breed new wars again.

What did you pray, soldier? What did you pray at war?
I prayed that we might do the thing we have not done before;
that we might mobilize for peace- nor mobilize in vain lest christ
and man be forced to climb stark Calvary again.