Nervous hands tug at the shreds of bloody uniforms
Sunlight, hidden by the encompassing shadows of the French trenches
The air carrying with it the sobs and screams of broken comrades

Molten rock and crumbling stone
Chasing down women and children
Harboring no mercy for the people of Pompeii
Insatiable, hungry, unstoppable

A giant crowd, motivated, passionate
All clamoring, all lifting faces and attentions to the Junior King
Behind Washington, before Lincoln
Changing the history of black
On a beautiful Mile of white

We, the devoted students of history
Do our best to honor the eternal paradigm
The legacies of those come before us
Lives in the present
Spent learning, reaching back to the past
The degree of detail studied, a vision

To be a wind through the very theaters
Of tragedy, of terror, of terrible war
But also of progress
Not to condemn us for our mistakes
But to learn
Not to yield to our partisanship
But to value each other for the peace to be gained