August 22, 2019Poem

Broker a peace

lossnaturepoliticsmemorymortality

Broker a peace

Drape me over

Your shoulder

Carry me to safety

Over the blackened bones

Of the fallen

When the mist

Is at its heaviest

Thick with the iron

Taste of blood

Catching

In the back of the throat

Every breath

An act of contrition

Thankfulness

Of life

An uneasy truce

Guilt a secret

Well kept

Until a child cries

In the distance

Beyond the wire

Covered in rust

Decorated in the

Ragged remnants

Of a lost war

There is no escape

Other than waking

Oh that I wish

It were so

There is a lucidity

That will not let go

As the sun lifts

Higher in the sky

A dull glow through the haze

It would be well

To remember

Not to wake

Until

I am carried home to

Safety

Out of a darkness

Deeper than midnight

Unless the dream

Is over

There is no truce

Just a cessation

And all I see

All I feel

Is a glimpse

Of what a death

The end will be.