The Winter Soldier

I was born into the world of war.
Air-raid sirens woke me from slumber,
Anti-communist propaganda my lullaby.
There's a chill in the wind symbolizing the political climate,
Secret skirmishes subside on the periphery.
My freedoms are on the line,
And I love my country...
Uncle Sam wants me.
All 16 years and 90 pounds of me.

Germany is cold...but it keeps me awake,
I hope I never fall asleep.
Knowing recruiters fed me lies
With a starry spoon on a red and blue striped platter
Didn't matter.
'Cause I was a soldier,
Learning to hate men I never knew
In a place I've never been.
I didn't like it, and it
Didn't matter.

I bled words of dissent and compassion to my superiors,
They said I could be a better soldier.
That they made me.
Injected with elixirs,
Forced to perceive hegemony as panacea,
Hatred as righteousness,
Might as right.
A 90 pound weakling no longer,
Now a one-man-army Army of One.
America's poster-boy ManChild.
They make me a captain...

Against the Reds, Nazi's, Facists,
Never breaking a sweat, but
Unknowingly breaking a mirror.
I feel a breeze through my fatigues, a chill that never ends.

I dream of an honorable discharge.
Dreaming implies sleeping.
Realness of the dream implies yet deeper sleeping...
I've no memory of lying down.
I dig a trench in my stomach,
Fill it with rage.

I've been betrayed
I know now why I sleep.
They made me a Captain...
America