A Thousand Wounds Deep

Alone in the twilight, restless, steeped in anger and regret

This battle-scarred warrior, broken thoughts he can never forget

Pacing and brooding. All the injustices of the universe

Have swallowed him up, leaving him aching and hurt

Head in hands, pretty faces replay time and again in his mind

Always the beginning of hope, a flutter of the heart, the fruitful find

Those first sleepy, warm mornings of discovery and sunny days

The bloom of love, the beat of a heart that this time will stay

Until the pain of the past grips his heart like a vice

Squeezing out the fury, pressing his mind against the ice

The unseen injuries. The hidden disease. The fractured soul.

Haunts his path and follows wherever he goes

Shutting down, shutting them out, he closes the door

Can’t share. Hides the fear. Breaks a tender heart once more.

Perplexed by his chronic desolation, he blames the lovelies.

The arms that tried to comfort him. The hearts that he pushed aside.

No sense can be persuaded when someone remains willfully blind

Only others on that bitter, murky path understand. The same kind.

Warriors who live to see another day gripped by horrors that will never set them free

Hiding the scars that are a thousand wounds deep.