Taste of dusty past

I've walked with caution and with fear.
This virtual backbone snapped as
the dried up husk of heat sapped twig in June.
I've thrashed inside the Devil's voice my head to turn.
I've lost much more than
all the gathered virtues shown.
I've tasted sand and bile that mixed,
became a feeling that's been lost.
Our only claim that stuck it out is that we were gentle through it all.
That, my friends, is all that counts.........