Fight Song

in sunlit fallow fields
and lying with the dead

the crucified librarian
the commonwealth bred

your tired eyes can't quite see the ceiling from this bed
so you'll watch the seasons turn like so many pages read

all the while it's your everything unsaid
that burns away inside 'til it's all concrete and lead

caught without and caught outside
these waking dreams and blinded eyes

and it's your dreams the soldiers reap
you bitter hound among the sheep

so fill up the hole you dug inside
give back to the earth your honor, your pride

wake up every morning just to watch the sun set
silver moon ascending, oh, the night sky burns in black and red

stalk the wolves waiting all the while among the stacks
where empty smiles disguise knives hidden behind backs

watch them all go running past
the fools, the lost, and the found

carry the stone and never make a sound
and carry all the weight you'll need to throw around

roll the dice with the demon
with your fears and your ghosts

or fold your hand and fade away
and pray for hospitals and coasts

nothing grows here
so you'll waste away the year

though you lost the fight

you're not going to sleep tonight

Author's Note

One last one from 2010-2011. I joined this site hoping to dig my way out of a few years old writer's block, but figured I should post some older stuff to sort of flesh out the portfolio for anyone who wanders over this way until I get some new stuff written. Thanks for reading.

Reviews

[ANTO]

Cool JL. I liked the imagery of refilling the grave - and the gambling with the dark side too
Very many things occurred to me while reading this and they kept coming til the end.
A masterful telling - the last line was like a samurai re-sheathing the katana.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

the allegory strikes me here, the battle on the field during a war becomes a battlefield of the mind.
tormented, shell shocked, not able to sleep at night.
some of my friends came back from Nam really messed up...
their insides destroyed by wounds we couldn't physically see.

[John Sullivan]

A friend of mine from high school was in Iraq, and I had the opportunity to catch up with him a few years back. He was in the country for, in his opinion, a relatively stable point in the conflict. Even then, he had a few stories to leave a civilian shaking his head. I can only imagine. Thank you for your time.