War never truly ends for some.

My Thorny Crown
by Michael Doyle

It's said and it's true
As a lesson learned by me and you
That only the dead 
Know the end of war
For the rest of us, it's in our heads
Cutting deep and then a bit more
In knowing death so intimately
We find comfort and yet infinitely
It's there in all of our small spaces
Unforgettable in all of our embraces
The traces of our forsaken yesterdays
When we were surer in all of our ways
That we knew the line between wrong and right
The veil that drops between day and night
All of the things that I would keep from you
As unneeded and unheeded however true
To keep your soul untainted, pure and good
The things that I can't unknow are understood
As the harbingers of my own bring down
And I wear this torment as my thorny crown

(c) March 2, 2020 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved