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When I last said goodnight to you
You pinned your kisses to me
Like military decorations
Your smile saluted stiffly while
Your war horse soul
Soldiered doggedly on
When I last said goodnight you spoke
With clipped conscripted diction
No more freeborn sweet nothings
‘Cause careless talk costs lives
Rank and file dogsbodies we
Were beautiful to each other once
And now our hearts march endlessly,
Our bed succumbs to marshal law
Our love manoeuvres now
Kiss by countermanded kiss
Guerrilla tactics guide
Our hands through night’s hostilities
And guard our private thoughts to keep
What little pride we can
We become impassioned predators
Lost in pressing patterns of
Advance and then retreat across
Flesh’s disputed territory-
Sex is a scheme of sabotage
Conversation is witless attrition
-Rank and file dogsbodies we
Were lovely to each other once
We were soft-hearted civilians then
These days we manufacture
Caresses like munitions
What happened to us?
If not at peace, we used to be
Comrades in arms at least, but now
To touch is to stage a coup and to
Say I love you is an act
Of bloody insurrection
What happened to us?
By what processes did I become
Militant
And you, mercenary?
Did we forget or were we caught
In compassion’s endless cross-fire?
When I last said goodnight to you
I wrapped my words in the white flag my
Tongue had long since become and I
Surrendered sadly
You and I both know
We’ll carry our words like shrapnel
Our hearts like holy medals
Fastened on to what's left of
Our veterans’ lapels…
------
The human race, the only race I know where everybody loses.
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Saint Michael And All The Angels
