No Map in Sight

No Map in Sight College looked promising And thoughts filled their heads Hope was flying high Thoughts of the future dancing around When all of a sudden The train pulled away And whisked them off, to the front, far away To a land, thoughts had never crossed Where college was far And rifles and war Was all that mattered And college was the past Screams echoed densely In the packed, muddy field, cannons booming Stepping over fallen comrades And orders replaced their thoughts It did not end quickly; muscles still ached They won half, maybe, and lost too Thoughts of survival and orders Where all that mattered When news arrived, an armistice signed No large cry arose, hope barely fluttered As if no time had passed Since the battle that day When trains unloaded Back with heroes returned Delivering them to life before Hope did not fly Mere years before Thoughts of college had danced Time hardly passed for others, Seemed like lifetimes to them Time had deserted Leaving them adrift Awash, a great island No map in sight