It's not an easy thing to turn your back on the ones you love.632Please respect copyright.PENANAdlovDuN8tl
They say it's something that cowards do, and they couldn't be more wrong.632Please respect copyright.PENANAi5Us6vWd8a
It's an act of courage. To overstep those boundaries of trust, to go against the irrationality of emotion for the greater good.632Please respect copyright.PENANADgq9M3XJUP
I tell myself this as I walk down the road, fields passing by and their cries fading away, but it doesn't stop their tears from stinging more than mine.
Death awaits me in a carriage, with a uniform and a mustache. On his wrist, a watch that my family and I would never be able to afford with a lifetime of savings, counting down the hours until I die. It may be just twenty four. It may be over a thousand. Little metal hands clicking clockwise eternally, but eventually even their cold insides will rust and grind to a halt.632Please respect copyright.PENANAwTQqxBrzh2
Some other boys who are joining with me seep slowly out of their houses. Their families, too, are saved.632Please respect copyright.PENANAJWxvyWAfii
Their friends, too, are condemned.632Please respect copyright.PENANAEmRWhFYTv3
Solemn glares all round, no greetings or banter now. We've come to fight against our own country in return for our family's safety. 632Please respect copyright.PENANAAw190a0GGx
They say that we are the spineless, but when you have to walk past the people that may die by the hands of the army you join, no one can say that we lacked the moral fiber to look them in the eyes.632Please respect copyright.PENANANkSbQHf0AI
Eyes that scream, filth.632Please respect copyright.PENANArHkvR3yeC4
Down the road, a broken promise awaits.632Please respect copyright.PENANAKHgOjYna9y
You said our families would be safe.632Please respect copyright.PENANAALd9zGnI8Z
But the watch hands keep ticking, the wheels keep rolling, and the lone hearts keep breaking, because since when was a coward's promise kept?