1944 (coats)

Stillness
Irrevocable stillness
Irretrievable stillness
A coat no longer breathing
Eyes open but no longer seeing
Legs meant for running, lying limp

In the quiet of warmness
of a life not yet cooled to death
of pages empty, fluttering away blank
forever blanc
of no reason
wordless quiet
heart pounding silence
of a mind racing to find a path
that no longer exists

You never get used to it
You never become numb to it
You never accept it
The innocent loss
of innocence lost
of an anger that burns
as acid
from inside

where there is no house
with enough walls
to punch
and there is no other
above
that answers anything
anymore

But there is standing
as the warmth of life
slowly fades
as sunlight behind clouds
as clouds full of rain
of tears that bleed
a heart dry

leather dry
cracked leather dry
of a slight breeze
a stirring of dust
a setting sun
and an anger beyond
biblical tales

So we stand before these
bloody coats
of hair groomed to kiss
of hands that would hold if they could
of eyes that would raise a child
to shoulders strong
and run through the house
on a trail of laughter

And we stand on hard ground
of snow falling
nature's coat
upon our fallen
and no cold known to any foxhole
cools what burns inside