War is an initiation into the power of life and death. Women touch that power on the moment of birth, men at the edge of death.

What has brought unique, irreplaceable me - out of all the possibilities of life-here, now, to this? Was all my youth-the paper route after school, the stolen moments in the back seats of borrowed cars, the football workouts, the cramming for finals-meant to end this way, dying in a muddy paddy?

What has brought unique, irreplaceable me - out of all the possibilities of life - here, now, to this?

Who knows what the tide could bring.