How Cheaply Came That Kiss
I strove to serve my country so I signed the dotted line,
They promised “education” and that suited me just fine;
But after years with hardly any break from all of this,
I learned how cheaply as to Jesus came the Judas kiss.
Promised rotations never came as we returned again
Into the heart of chaos, me and all my crew of men,
With years away from those we love as keep hearth fires at home,
The promises they gave us seem no more than froth on foam.
Not that I think one ought to place a premium on slaughter--
But just compare our lot with such employees of Blackwater,
As making five-fold what we get and having compensation
Excessive of the “sterile futile” praises of a nation.
Such private contractors, as work for business not for love
Of country get the plum positions handed by kid glove--
But as we daily plunge into the heart of greater danger
Than they must meet, our country’s payments treat us like the stranger.
Five-fold they make to what I make and yet their benefits
Outclass my own, as would be home, but I can’t call it quits,
Because despite the promises that we’d see holidays,
As to Iraq we must go back we hear the same ol’ praise.
It was an education, how a country can betray
A man as serves for love instead of profits—while my pay
Be but increase of wisdom if I maybe live so long
To use it—but unscathed in soul are few, nor body strong.
The education promised is a kind of calculus
How mercenary motives make a mockery of us
As strove to serve our county; love, idealism missing
So I love Jesus daily while calamity keeps kissing.