Gunfire rattles the windows on the houses
Glass splinters against the cobbles by our feet
I lie back, numb all across me
As the shards claw at broken skin and khaki clothes
Yet I feel none of it.

The air above my face shudders black with bullets
Soldiers snarl in a desperate cry
As they all fall to join me
Fear sparking, sharp, electric
Yet I hear none of it.

The sky burns with light as shapes descend
Every face I’ve ever lost staring back with honest eyes
A hand holds itself out, and as I reach up and stumble forth
Nothing can touch my broken body, broken soul
I feel none of it.

The light opens wide and I stare into its gaping mouth
Nerves like ice freezing in each cell to see
The heavens’ gates open wide but still I won’t move
Won’t step towards their light
Will know none of it.

“The sky’s too big,” I cry out to their cold impossible faces
“I’m scared,” I tell them, stare back at my fellow fallen
Have they gone up too?
I cannot follow, will not, I’m scared despite all I have felt before
I will learn none of it.

They speak to me then
The power of many condensed into one solitary sound
“Young man,” they say. “Don’t you know
That there is more to life than this one you have led?”
And I want to know all of it.

I wander up to that distant perfect light
Its secrets calling like a gentle cry of a lover
The world’s torment falls on deaf ears and still
I will forget none of it.
But I will leave behind all of it.