I walk through life with a soldier’s stance,
eyes wide, head high,
in a constant dance.
Fireworks crack like a sniper’s call,
I flinch, I falter,
but I never fall.
Walls at my back in every room,
restaurants feel like a tactical zoom.
Crowds are a field where shadows play,
I search for dangers that never stray.
Every pop, a cannon’s roar,
every night, a battle more.
In the silence of my mind,
the war replays,
I’m trapped behind.
Dreams are fields of fire and noise,
haunted by the ghosts
of my deployed boys.
Hands that grip a ghostly gun,
the war is over
but it’s never done.
In this hypervigilant ballet,
I dodge the shadows
that swing my way.
Peace is a fight I wage alone,
turning every stone,
the unseen known.
As the world sleeps tight tonight,
I stand guard in the fading light.
Memorizing exits, scanning faces,
finding war
in the quietest places.