I am
or at least,
will be
a casualty of your war

you have taken out your bullets
in forms of words and weaponry
and thrown them
into the fray

much more causally than you were taught
in the barracks
I am assuming

you see
you do not comprehend
how such bullets hit
enemy and ally alike

they do not discern
like you do
difference in alliance
they smell only the
rank
foul
stench of warm
flesh and blood

you told me only yesterday
that someone in your platoon had succumb
to a stray bullet
you watched
him bleed

cynicism and misinterpreted thoughts
flowing from the gaping wound
in his head

yet you
like the rest of this godforsaken world
learned no lesson
you keep shouting your commands
watching the privates
scrambling to comply with your orders
not caring
who lives
or who dies

Isn’t it lonely
How life no longer holds
any value?
in this world of rising gas prices
has paper and oil overtaken
the price of a human soul?

You
of all people should understand
how much
a life costs
overpriced
and under stocked
as they are
nowadays

a good life is hard to come by
don’t throw yours away
into the heart
of this
hell called the battlefield

come home
back to me
please take your finger off the trigger
and hang your gun above the door
I don’t want to be a casualty
I won’t lose you
into this never ending void
this never ending war

why must every battle
become a
war?