Once men, then soldiers, now nothing

A battle has taken place here
The rubble of a great palace
Trodden under the feet of the weary victors
Too numb even now to smile
It seems but a distant memory
A nightmare in a far off place
Was it truly a dream after all?

Great men, brothers lost
Their spirits committed to heaven, or to hell
Their memory now nothing
But a glint in the eye or an ache in the heart
Of those they leave behind
A letter of condolence
Just words

So now the general makes his speech
A ‘decisive victory’
They are ‘all heroes’
But his words fall on deaf ears
For the men who once marched proudly
Are now but shuddering hulks
Shadows of their former selves

Praying for action

No parade for them
No crowded streets
Lined with seas of admiring faces
No, instead a quiet discharge
Resettlement and hopelessness
Sentenced to listless drifting
What good is a pension to a dead man?

Royen