The injuries from the military that are visible only scratch the surface of the totality.

Inward Crash
by Michael Romani

There's a loneliness in his memory
Sitting and looking out to the sea
Images explode, implode and won't go away
Crashing down reflections lived every day

Eyes close as he tries to keep strong
Sitting there closed to the world; lingering long
Phantoms arise terrifying in their beauty
As overpowering as his call once to duty

Chopper blades call back their thunder
Mesmerizing as these pull him under
Transfixed as though not fully present
Tale told with a sigh he now resents

Disturbed he feels his soul cry out
To those hard decisions that now leave only doubt
A voyage sailed too close to Hades' shore
Has him withdraw into that more

That overwhelms him with its pain
Flickers of lucidity; whimpers of the insane
He had been a good soldier, one of the best
But that one night claimed him ; hell never rests

Bullets have taken their untimely toll
Now he finds life lost feeling and doesn't roll
Sniper scoped and wickedly took his friend
A bad decision that will never, ever end

Fingers point deepest when their you're own
And now the theme of war intrudes until gone
Somehow lingering on and on and eternally on
Tagged forever with this blame that is beyond

Staring into the abyss of false clearing
They call him brave and found him fearing
A walk away from times ceaseless frame
Knowing that he'll always be to blame

The worse blade is the one self inflicted
Waking up dead, broken and self conflicted
Giving into the darkness of memory's voices
Self-loathing and caught in too many wrong choices

(c) June 10, 2019  Michael Romani
All Rights Reserved