Gasping for air.
Straining to catch our breath.
Fighting down
a raging sea of emotions.
Seeking calm,
in the midst of chaos,
without the futility
of trying to understand it;
merely trying
to keep a grip on humanity.
Beat back
that which crawls
out of that savage pit of souls.
Prison for the murderous
is shaking loose
and bleeding forth
old, stagnant infections
too long ignored.
Civil war,
sever and cauterize.
Modern Warfare,
a surgical strike;
direct action.
The future begs
that we expose healthy tissue,
or the body will reject the graft.
Blood and fire,
what is old is new again,
but those days were atrocities
we swore our children would not see.
Fighting to catch a breath,
heart pounding,
soul tearing;
reaching for comfort,
but comfort was in the hand
that we rejected.
It was in the skin
that we shed.
It was in the shield
we discarded.
It was in the promise
we broke.
Now,
we will fight
just to breathe.
HG – 2016
