It's not an easy thing to turn your back on the ones you love.656Please respect copyright.PENANAowSzVUn3ih
They say it's something that cowards do, and they couldn't be more wrong.656Please respect copyright.PENANAZN9awycKda
It's an act of courage. To overstep those boundaries of trust, to go against the irrationality of emotion for the greater good.656Please respect copyright.PENANAEqePWjRNQc
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.656Please respect copyright.PENANA8fWk1WFOPz
Some other boys who are joining with me seep slowly out of their houses. Their families, too, are saved.656Please respect copyright.PENANADowOCWNnC8
Their friends, too, are condemned.656Please respect copyright.PENANA5oGNldadGh
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. 656Please respect copyright.PENANAJXPW2hnJ9Q
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.656Please respect copyright.PENANAXgvZYnAKOT
Eyes that scream, filth.656Please respect copyright.PENANAl62Tie7F97
Down the road, a broken promise awaits.656Please respect copyright.PENANAzIGd3C32uw
You said our families would be safe.656Please respect copyright.PENANAzxbp0rHbZ6
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?