To Live

By: Ladesh

I fan my fingers willfully

Across my chest

I know that violence

Is not a surrogate for love

But I’ve spent my whole life

In defense of freedom

*

Some people are born

An accessory to war

Others are born

To bare fruit

*

You are the harvest Goddess

I watch you toil and sow

My expression one

Of awe and envy

*

I’d trade anything

For your white robes

For the spotless bastions

Of a blessed youth

*

My arms are harnessed

In coarse brown sleeves

Amidst heart fragments

And razor-blade smiles

*

I want to live and in living be