Fires (which Burnt Brightly)

This war we are waging is already lost

The cause for the fighting has long been a ghost

Malice and habit have now won the day

The honors we fought for are lost in the fray

Standards and bugles are trod in the dust

Wounds have burst open and corridors rust

Once proud and truthful, now humbled and bent

Fires which burnt brightly, now energies spent

Let down the curtain and exit the play

The crowds have gone home and the cast sailed away

Our flowers and feathers as scarring as weapons

Our poems and letters have turned to deceptions