Bleeding hand touched bleeding heart
When eyes could not weep
He sat and watched and shot the dart
To fall into endless sleep

He cared he did for those he left
But that was not enough
For demons stalked him as he slept
Hiding in the dust

Death had tried to kiss his head
Many times back then
Its longing he had not escaped but fed
For it sat in wait for his men

He saw them fall
He saw them lie
Out on the shadowed grass
He watched them choke and fight and die
Tributes that would not last

And so he lived and went back home
To a place he did not know
With pain he tried to atone
He tried to learn to grow

But some scars are too deep
For instilled shame to escape
He joins lives broken by his feet
As he recognizes his fate