I
Bewilder cowards
(And there is no shortage of
soldiers who linger behind
the loopholes)
But to be fair, I am equally confounded by cowardice
At the first beacon of blood, you run?
Who will save you from the massacre to come?
And so we stand on the frontline gawking
At the other’s means of survival.
Which is to say:
I do not understand how to be both warrior
And afraid.
II
Torture is a disc slipped from its seams
not a man too weak to know his woman’s strengths,
Try as he might to convince himself
that you can grieve a thing you never knew.
Is not this dwelling place of demons
The liars are calling romance.
Torture could never be
The blooming beauty of truth:
That you could not love him
Because he would not let you.
There was nothing there to pinch the nerve,
To jolt alive at its rupture.
about: at the depth of my heart is a fighter for truth; I believe not picking a side is a final decision
