Nightly Prayer and My Sister

Nightly Prayer and My Sister
by LCPL Figueira

Sgt Grit,

I’m PFC Figueira, I wrote the first poem, Nightly Prayer, when I was in MCT in October. One of my buddies and I wrote it when we got back to Camp Geiger and I had contacted one of our Drill Instructors.

The second one, My Sister, I wrote here at NMITC in Dam Neck, VA, when I heard about one of my other buddies from bootcamp got into a car accident and was in the hospital.

Nightly Prayer

Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
If I should die before I wake
I pray the lord my soul to take
Please guard my Marines both day and night
As they struggle to win the fight
Guide them in the right direction
From the horrors of war to a routine inspection
I pray for them all both young and old
As they all hae stories that they have told
I pray for the Boots, that they may learn
That nothing here is given, but must be earned
I pray for the Old Corps, that they may have patience
To carefully guide the new beyond fadish sensations
I pray for the Grunts, out on the front lines
Watching their buddies fall, one at a time…
God, bless the Drill Instructors, new minds to mold
Future Marines they train, their stories yet untold.
God, bless the combat instructors, tough also is their job,
To train new Marines in warfare, so they don’t look like a mob.
I must go sleep now, Lord, my body is tired.
Please, stay with me, oh God, until I’m retired.
Amen

My Sister

You have killed my sister, the one I knew so well.
Now, as I see you, there’s a story I must tell.
She and I went to bootcamp together;
Became friends, through the worst and the better.
She saved my life from time to time,
Kept me from giving up; the truest friend of mine.
In combat training, I saw her last,
Encouraging me to carry-on, while struggling to finish the task.
Now you sit me down, and I see, she’s gone.
Tell me now, my “friend,” what will I tell her mom?
I’ve made up my mind, on the choice I had to make,
Like a wife to an abusive husband, your life do I take?
No one is watching; no one here to see me;
To take your life now, would just be too easy.
Then, and only then, you surrender your will to live,
Now is the time, when I truely forgive.