Valor's lament

From thy brother, who was thy guardian and guide

A confession of guilt and sorrow I write:

By thy side, I wish I could have died

For the guilt of thy death, I can not fight!

My duty I chose, and thy life I forsook,

By my command, I darkened a light

Blood got thinner, my chauvinism shone bright.

Yet my duty, I cannot revoke;

For pride and honor, this burden I cloak

Misdeed swayed, wrongfully driven

Believing thy life to be righteously given

Ended in heartache;

For thy soul I shattered,

A grievous mistake.

My conscience had nagged and my heart had cried,

For my duty, I chose and thy life I denied

In the end, I was left in shame

For I had no one to blame.

For thy life, I had to pay the price

My guilt and sorrow, I can not hide

Perpetually left asking, who was right?

Kids we were, played by the river so free,

Laughing and dreaming 'neath the old oak tree

Vowed thereafter, to serve the land,

One followed laws, Captain so grand.

The other, rebellious, sought a different way,

Yet both bound by duty, come what may.

Now tears doth fall,

My heart is heavy and aware

Of orders that I could not spare.

The Major knew of thy plans all along,

Thought thou were unfit, weak, and wrong.

He commanded me with a hidden tone,

To send thee forth to a perilous zone,

Where thy fate was sealed, and death was known.

Yet if by chance thou didst survive the strife,

I was ordered to take thy very life,

Waiting outside, with sorrow concealed,

My hands so ready,

To deliver what fate had sealed.

The truth of thy death, I must confess

That thy life, I could not protect.

But in the end, I ask who was right

My duty and morals or brotherhood so bright?