A Lonely Homecoming

I walk on the barren ground,

under the grey, morbid sky,

over my fallen comrade's heads,

by the soil tainted forever red.

 

my eyes too dry to shed a tear,

my voice too hoarse to cry a word,

Oh, what would I give to weep,

atleast then the flood that ensues from my eyes,

would blur the horror of this day,

And my voice would obscure,

the sense of loss that I face

 

My legs feel lifeless,

My shoulder sore with carrying the weight,

of the rugged rifle in my hand,

how ironic, I think as I laugh at my current state,

the very thing that I cannot withstand,

I clinch to it tightly,

till my fingertips are pale white.

 

But I do note pay heed to these exertions,

for my heart carries the greatest burden,

the expectations and dreams of the deceased,

The innumerable, 'I leave it to you',

The countless, 'I am counting on you',

of my fallen friends as they leave me alone,

to carry their torch on this godforsaken world.

 

My mind cries in insufferable agony,

as my comrades fall like petals from a flower,

leaving me with their dreams,

oh, my friends on the other side,

tell me, tell me please,

how am I supposed to join you now?

when there is no one left to pass the baton onto.

 

But I will carry on,

for the sun will rise tomorrow,

and a sapling will rise some time after,

and birds would twirl and swirl on this sky sooner,

and this desolate land would be brimming with life far into the future.