They scream at me,
From my side.
Their voices embedded,
In my flesh.

The lives that life forgot.
Pain with nowhere to go,
Turned inward,
Exploding organs.

Numbed sensitivity.
Infected callous.
Pierce the skin,
Let the sorrow ooze.

Their deaths are overlooked.
Their stories, rewritten.
I’ll live to spite you.
I’ll make it for myself.

We need you, soldier.
The war rages on.
Your experiences, our artillery.
Your agony, our weaponry.