A Psalm to My Friends by Jeff Utsch

Early from Neil Roberts to latter, CK Four
Many have fallen and there will be more.

Why do they risk it, putting their young lives at bay?
Is it Life, Liberty and the American Way?

Perhaps it is duty, honor and love of our nation?
Or the desire to be their best that keeps them at station?

I wonder if it’s the Brotherhood that comes with shared pain?
Or the confidence of working with men whose ideals are the same?

Trusting your brother with your life in his hands
Forges a bond stronger than the oldest of clans.

They compete, and they mock and talk smack as they train
Understanding all along that this is no game.

To others they’ve left the field of sports to enjoy.
Where winning and losing is but a child’s toy.

The stakes here are high, it is understood by all.
For us and for them as they heed our call.

The call to protect and to keep us from harm
To fight for our country no matter the storm

Of course, there’s a cost understood by most.
Some will not come home to re-man their post

Of father or brother or husband or son
And will count on us others to carry on.

His duties are now ours, of this will we forget?
He would do no less for us, of this you can bet!

So, remember we must but there is more yet to do
For the widow and children and the whole family, too.

And a duty we have as they protect our liberties abroad
Is to protect them ourselves on our own native sod’

For what is the good of the sacrifice of so many
If we don’t do our part and give more than plenty

Of our time and our talents, of our money and more
To our freedoms at home and to those who have bore

The weight of preserving the greatest of all nations
To us and our posterity for many generations.