Battle Scars

Battle Scars

I stand revered among my peers
  With contradicting battle scars
And yesterday, I remember how clear it seemed
   To come from so far, to fight for no cause.
The look of everyone who said there’s no sense
   In fighting for someone far away from here…

I saw my fate across a bloodied horizon,
   The violence, released in self defense
Shrugged off and now it seems impossible
   To say it couldn’t happen here.
   Is like saying I’m guilty for fighting
   Another man’s war...

Amongst majestic trees I find myself alone,
   High atop the canopy of impending defeat
Snatched from the jaws of victory
   I fall, deeply and endlessly into a black hole,
And disgraced for being apart from the one thing
   I have cherished, my honor and my worth.

I no longer know who I am, an invisible stranger
   In the landscape of a weary and scarred heart
Trying to figure out where I belong
   When I am so very far away from you.
   If I can return home, just once to see you smile.
   It is a wish that has gone unheard
   As I feel your hand glide across the coldness of my casket...