Do you remember? So long ago

The nightly images that scarred us so

The promise of future Futility

The fate of War and Anonymity

The dead-end wall of Certainty

Of mindless Death and Hostility

You saw the body bags, and knew

That someday this bell would toll for you—

But then, somehow, our fate was changed

The cards re-dealt, the future rearranged

We awoke from a static nightmare, dreamed

To a second chance, or so it seemed—

But the Hopeless Promise does still abide

Though hidden well, it sleeps inside

copyright 1999, M. W. Anderson