DB Cox- A Poem

statistical soldier

more than five years
back from iraq
shadowed in the light
of a 40-watt bulb
past the point
where hope breaks
he blows out his brains
as easy as a candle & drops
facedown
like an unstrung puppet
onto the basement floor
no one
not his mother
not his father
not his friends
had noticed
the night in his eyes

here is the broken body growing stiff
in the damp, soulless cold
here is the solitary light moving across the sky
from one dark space to another
here is the traveler confused by the journey
can't find his way back home
here is america's statistical soldier
felled by "friendly fire"
here is the stilled heart
that could not be filled
& here we are-left to guess
about a split-second in time
only he could see

i choose to imagine a cloud of beautiful colors
rising in the darkness-
orange fading to sapphire-blue
painting the heavens an impossible hue-
a burning red point
moving over a sharp silver line
that cuts between meaningless human noise
and perfect solitude

that place of rest
he has been seeking

there-by the morning star


Published first by "Red Fez"