Winner’s Ransom
“Never think that war…is not a crime. “ — Ernest Hemingway
Published in
May 6, 2024
His own eyes follow him to the podium,
faint remorse in heart is muted by feat of glory,
easy is the lesson learnt when it can’t fail,
spraying bullets in combat and hurling grenades,
hero if vanquish, martyr if vanquished,
a soldier can do no wrong.
Years later victory fades, the accolades flake off,
the mind grows dim but peace evades the inner man,
bursts of daze play through disparate lenses,
the past comes calling and turns into the present,
now and forever you are a killer.
********* The first version of this poem was published on May 4, 2024, in Friday Flash Fiction.******
