I’m afraid
We’ve gone far enough
From those days once soaked
In tie-dye
Beyond how faith
Should secure us
For a time not lived
But endured

Among old threats
Newly learned
Still gray as their fears
Have indebted
Each soul waging wars
Only battled
Upon colorless paths
We all know

Where experience
Falls under guns
Losing poetry
Facing these bullets
Seeking humanness
Suffering greatly
Begging one last chance
To connect

Before fighting
Can claim what is left
Since our work
Still vaguely determines
Whose hope
Remains most forgiving
Seeing beauty
While watching it burn

Until God
Replaces that need
If art proves weak
When believing
True love might ruin
Every ending
Now somehow thought
Always wrong

Since the feeling
Despite being bright
Only fosters hurt
So apparent
Dreaming death
May hold better places
Here at home
Or further away.

• J. Pigno