commander

the commander's head

filled with empty dreams

of a special joy

bobbing in anxious tones

over dead men's bones

being carried home.

midst shattered nerves

and tainted hope

hyped by the illusions

of a superficial faith,

mourning morphed

into empty feelings

of noisy drunks.

nervous throats

coughed discomfort

as if toxic smoke

from aborted hope

lay o'er the graves

of these recent dead.

bearing in himself

the burden of squandered hope

he shuffled to depart

gathering his notes

like scattered jacks.

poised to depart

the monotony of those

clothed in the earth

a nervous switch of irony

greets him at the exit door:

a patient parent pleading

he'd bring their children home

outside the flag-draped coffins

and preferably close to whole.