I May Sometimes Be Willing

My Business Is Staunching Blood, And Feeding Fainting Men.

What Armies And How Much Of War I Have Seen, What Thousands Of Marching Troops, What Fields Of Slain, What Prisons, What Hospitals, What Ruins, What Cities In Ashes, What Hunger And Nakedness, What Orphanages, What Widowhood, What Wrongs And What Vengeance.

If Woman Alone Had Suffered Under These Mistaken Traditions [of Women's Subordination], If She Could Have Borne The Evil By Herself, It Would Have Been Less Pitiful, But Her Brother Man, In The Laws He Created And Ignorantly Worshipped, Has Suffered With Her. He Has Lost Her Highest Help; He Has Crippled The Intelligence He Needed; He Has Belittled The Very Source Of His Own Being And Dwarfed The Image Of His Maker.

I Don't Know How Long It Has Been Since My Ear Has Been Free From The Roll Of A Drum. It Is The Music I Sleep By, And I Love It.... I Shall Remain Here While Anyone Remains, And Do Whatever Comes To My Hand. I May Be Compelled To Face Danger, But Never Fear It, And While Our Soldiers Can Stand And Fight, I Can Stand And Feed And Nurse Them.

My Business Is Stanching Blood And Feeding Fainting Men; My Post The Open Field Between The Bullet And The Hospital. I Sometimes Discuss The Application Of A Compress Or A Wisp Of Hay Under A Broken Limb, But Not The Bearing And Merits Of A Political Movement. I Make Gruel--not Speeches; I Write Letters Home For Wounded Soldiers, Not Political Addresses.