In the Shadow of Victory

Time winds down,

All is quiet,

A solitary salute

Faintly sounds, 

the bells of church.

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Senses flooded with emptying loss

As gear is packed and flashbacks fought,

Form unused necklaces of sweat.

And even so,

lies mind relaxed

His jaws tighten

Wishing for the power,

To control the past.

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From disappointment flows

one numbing fact,

From fertile numb soil,

Grow the desolate numb crack.

High on hollowness 

he sees 

No dying courtesy.

No final act.

No church of victory.

but cries of anguish

haunting back.

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Void of anger,

Depleted of rage,

Once a prince of potential,

Now sees potential’s cage;

Isolating sensation,

Icing his veins,

Shackled to regret,

Life does not remain.

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