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–A poem by Aaron Holst

 

Neither smiles    both stare at

a future            blurred by growing

up a block away

worlds apart

 

Skeletons of battle      unseen bones

of more to come    whirled wars

with each other           at

each other

 

rageful campaigns        annihilations

empty

exhaustive

reparations

 

Years later       each will account:

how she married for sorrow

of his hard life             how he            too sadness

for a war bride widowed

 

In this worn    scarred black and white

two lives

exposed           wounds unhealed