I flew to desolate fire bases

filled with the tools of war

and the men who used them

it was my job to perform the miracle

of making the war disappear

  (however briefly)

for boys who had been trained to kill

it was my mission to raise the morale

of children who had grown old too soon

watching friends die

it was my calling

to take away fear and replace it with hope

to return sanity to a world gone insane 

I was the mistress of illusion

as I pulled smiles from the dust and heat

the magical genie of "back-in-the-world"

as I created laughter in the mud

but when the show was over

I crawled back into my bottle

and pulled the cork in tightly behind me