• they are a blessing and a curse
• I have fought in this endless war
• for years now
• never rotated off the front lines
• pushed forward, forward, without cease

//

• “they are proud”, they say
• i have accomplished much
• but lo! the enemy approacheth
• hold the line

//

• “they are disappointed”, they say
• i redouble my efforts
• faster, further, your friends depend on you!
• charge!, you fool

//

• “there is no failure”, they say
• i plead to rotate off the line
• a day, i beg, one moment from this march
• they say, “one foot in front of the other, soldier”

//

• but my war is over;
• I am spent, an empty shell;
• I take their gun and place it to my temple,
• force them to look into my tired, broken eyes.

//

• pull the trigger, I say.