Was there truth
before the war?
Did we do
what we could
to try to venerate it?
Cast the vulnerable
against the tide
of indignation
that we had realized.
A bullet,
punched through a book.
We only noticed
when the blood touched
our hallowed ground.
There have been
those of us
who celebrate
that kind of thing,
now.
I used to think
we knew what we
were doing,
but I’m afraid
I don’t believe that
anymore.
I saw the same thing
in the schoolyard,
and to my horror
we haven’t come
very far.
Traded innocence
for avarice.
Bought celebrity
with shame.
We gilded
the edges of our skin
with the blood
of those who chose
to play.
Recruited an army
of the derelict,
and dissatisfied.
Told them
the only way to live
was to pick a side,
then made them meet
the tide.
I remember,
before the war,
but I
don’t want to go back.
I want something different
in the end.
Proof that we
have learned our lesson.
Guess we must burn
the distemper out.
The feeling
of fever,
and steel
Pray
that what remains
on the other side
is real.
DJR – 2023
