To the graveyard, leads, “the 1,000-yard stare”
Specters, scream in ears, haunting requiems
Once, faith of war, is now, bare, face of fear
Nightmares, are the truest, dreams, it seems!

In the war, state won, he lost it all
The hu-man, that he, ever was
To a, glory’s graffiti, on, asylum-wall
A lasting martyr, of a, lost cause!

“War, ain’t dead yet, it lives, in me
Unlike, foes and friends, who died, for good
I bear, my conquest’s, legacy
With a madness, that, made me, deadwood!”

Whose war, men fight, to earn, their sins
Baptized by, passion’s, profound pain
And bear, each day, in win’s coffins
Splintered Nerves, Held By, Vain Vein!

© 2021 Vikas Chandra