This ravaged night

That bleeds us dry

Of all that we love and adore

That tramples the flower

And blisters the soil

That cracks the earth

that withers the harvest of the mind

that snaps the will

and smothers all hope

 

this dark and choking blanket

with tendrils reaching out

strangling every last vestige

of who and what we were

turning us one against another

letting us become all that we abhor

that promises everything

for just a few more feet of mudded turf

 

that which preys on the weak and the strong alike

that which defies the keen and the bright

that whose tempest smoulders without end

feeding on the plague of pride avarice hunger and dissent

with righteousness that screams and yells at every passing peaceful thought

this decoy of a better life

this savage ravaged night

of which we always say

there will be no more

this that we call a just

and necessary war ?