"Be all love. There is nothing else. That will do the work. It will heal everything; it will raise the dead. Be nothing but love."
--Mary Baker Eddy

Nothing but Love

The day was hot and dry and long
and wounds started festering faster
than nurses could get to them.
Several of the wounded, mostly
new Army arrivals, young, were
not going to last more than
another couple of hours. There
was an older soldier among them,
though, a Captain Bryce,
who'd stared The End in the face
a couple of times before. He knew
this time was the very last time. He
could tell it from the way his life
kept flashing before his eyes and
he couldn't catch his breath and
it suddenly felt like he didn't have
any blood left coursing through
his veins. With the critically terminal,
on the front line like this, doctors
and nurses learn the strength and grace
to let them just go quietly if they can.
Bryce wasn't going quietly,
however. Despite all their best
efforts at hoping he'd run out of
energy, or will, or blood, there
he lay, yelling for all to hear,
"You have to listen to me now,
all of you, makers of this war.
I've been to hell and back and
I'm headed there once again only
moments from now. Now's your
very last chance to hear some truth."
A nurse came up to Bryce's cot and
said, "Please, Captain, try to save your
energy." "For What?" Bryce yelled.
"For whatever lies beyond? No. I'm lying
here telling you if you'll just listen to
what I have to say with my last few
breaths of life, your own life will
turn out better." Several of the other
soldiers nearby and a couple of the
medics stopped what they were
doing to listen. The nurse finally
recognized she had to let a dying
man's dying wish be true. "What
is it you have to tell us that's so
important?" the nurse asked.
"I thought you'd never ask," Bryce
quickly noted. "I have two words for
you: kith and kin. I know it
sounds trite, but that doesn't make
it any less true. You've got to try
harder than anything else you do
not just to love your family and
friends, but to let them know,
everyday, how _much_ you love
them. And never stop worrying
about the well being of your love and
friendships; ask after them all
the time; never leave them alone,
not for a minute. Love is a thing
which really needs your love, and
your constant care and attention."
The nurse noticed Bryce's pulse
slowing; she also looked down
and saw his wedding ring. "Is
there anything you'd like to tell
your wife?" "Yes. Tell her my
whole life has been one long war song
for her, a song full of boundless
hope and faith in human goodness.
And despite all the madness I've
been a part of and seen, when I
think of her, I feel sane. I only
wish I'd told her more than just
once a day how much I love
her, how she filled my days with
a hope I never thought possible."
Bryce was almost out of breath.
"It's OK, Captain. You just
rest now" the nurse implored.
"Hell no! I'm not done _yet_,"
Bryce screamed, and proceeded
quite literally to rage against
the ending of his life. "Destroy your
enemies by making them your
friends. Uplift your family by
sharing everything with them,
_everything_. And make your friends
forever friends by never forgetting
to ask them tough questions about
their own lives every time you meet.
Holler to everyone who can hear you
that you stand for righteousness,
that you endeavor to share love with
everyone who could possibly be held within
your circle of kindness, and that you have
nothing to hide, nothing to fear, nothing
to despise. Truly become nothing but
love and every single one of your
dreams will be true. They won't even
need to come true; they'll just be true.
Flip on the switch and don't look
back." Bryce then suddenly nodded off.
"Captain? Captain?" the nurse cried
in vain. The whole camp was by now
turned to watch a dying soldier utter his
final words. That night, for the first time
ever, enlisted men, the wounded, nurses,
medics, doctors, Majors, all gathered
in a circle, lit candles, and bowed their
heads in silence for a few moments. In the name
of a soldier named Bryce. In the name
of an end to all the madness. In the name
of nothing but love.

(2006)