This is A quiet Solitary War
This is a lonely battle with no survivors
Against an enemy in me I cannot see,
Ravaging silently, relentlessly,
My agony whispers for a soul\'s release.
There are no cannon here,
Nor crackle of automatic fire,
No shrapnel does a limb shear
After tripping on a wire.
Planes do not roar, then soar.
This is a quiet solitary war.
There are no bugles, no reveille,
Just needle a dull \"thunk\" of a biopsy,
The \"thump, thump, thump\" of an MRI,
And the funk knowing too soon I may die.
Noiselessly tears pour.
This is a quiet solitary war.
My foxhole an infusion chair,
The supply line an IV.
My adversary too lies here,
We\'ve become buddies him and me.
I\'m but a shadow of that year ago photo.
He\'s castrate resistant, a mighty foe,
And endures to grow.
Together we go.
As the glass scythes away at our time
Courage is called to the fore.
Wait, wait, and wait some more.
It\'s no longer a solitary war.
Augustus / Folsom, LA / September 2017