The Buzzard Must Eat as Well as the Worm

The buzzards must eat as well as the worms,
And here lies sustenance for thy mind.
So as the soldier knows and fighting learns,
He gives as much for little returns.

Here is the camp for their way, their kind,
Discipline exhales in uniform breath.
Signed away their lives, and souls they find,
Being of service, their enemies they bind.

Then war, then life, then peace brings death,
And the weakest of minds begin to break.
Though we at our end, gripping our sneath,
Live to know our victory's breadth.

This is the nature of the great nations and all,
For governments fight for the people's turn.
Even when lovers quake, so we appall,
The buzzard must eat as well as the worm.

By Evan Gunn Wilson