No salutes or flag bearers or anthems
or cherished combat boots or gleaming metal tags
or outrage
for the lost ones
who were the bravest
and the mighty
just trees and ropes and whips
and dogs and bullets and rape
and mutilation
for the sold ones
striped of the loved ones
bred for the new ones
behold the solders of the many failed
yet never abandoned battles
for the right to own
their bodies and to keep
their families
together
I consider my fathers to have
been the bravest
and the mighty
royal warriors by blood-right
no auction price could ever truly place
value on the brave and the mighty
fathers, sons, and brothers who lost battles
but won their freedom
and stood as brave and mighty men
only to be bound and hung
by the heartless
I consider my fathers to have
been the bravest
and the mighty
to know that living was hard
and death wasn’t the easiest
but in the land of the brave
it sure was the freest
Flowing Like Milk and Honey 
One thought on “The Mighty”