Friendly Fire

Through the trails of war

I heard the beating drums

The world was in shatters

And cities were set aflame

Darkness in the horizon

Loomed and despair

As soldiers marched

The land gaped red

Towers fell apart

Orchard blazed with fire

And smoke reeled

In spiral of debris

Little feet scurried away

Bloody tears trickled

Heaps of scattered limbs

The pyre was to blame

Hungry for more wood

More blood, cremated

And nothing remains

But ashes of a dream

I went to the end of time

“In search for peace”

Reverberation echoed

Across the barren fields

Rumbled on in fury

Spitting its load of hate

Firestorms in the sky

Consumed the air I breathe

Smothered, I fumble

I grope blind

In search for

Remembrance, honor?

A lie…

I scream

“Friendly Fire”

So cold in the heat

I went to the sun

But her rays were cold

She froze my heart

With a stroke

And though I bleed

My blood is as white

As river Jordan

Baptizing me in Peace.

Max O’Reilly