Long ago you burned
Their children in church
Locked behind heavy
Wooden doors. Blinded
By what you interpreted
As warfare orders.
Their fight was not lost
In surrender you told
Aching hearts and minds
Float unfound above ground
In your nightmares
And in your daughter’s.
Married forever
To a soldier’s cause
See-through used gauze
After the jam is pressed
Sticky ethical fibre
Of translucent left behind
Essence of the extracted.
Grow lavender halos
Of higher purpose
As you toss and prowl
Behind the picket fences
Of your stolen homes.
Unmarked graves
Play forever in your mind
In every immortal
Apricot morning
You see their searching
Non-combatant silhouettes.
