An Endless War

[Marek Bartusek]

An Endless War
Is a treacherous life.
From the instant your eyes open
You find yourself standing at the precipice
Of a battlefield that stretches
Beyond the horizon
It's become a gruelingly familiar sight
One seared into your memory
Since the moment you understood your place
You saunter in
To the malevolent spectacle that lays ahead
Making the word 'impossible'
Seem like an understated title
Your muscles have recorded it to memory
Like the fingerings of an instrument
Or the handling of a weapon
Though some days you may wield a fighting spirit
And claim victory for the day
There are many more that feel
As if you have merely survived
Hanging on
By the thread of fate
Tied
In an ever present noose

Still,
As if cruelty were too nice a charge
There is no aide
No reserve
No auxiliary to stand beside you
The highest hope is from the post
Where a letter of assurance or encouragement
Is a rarity greater than immortality
But
A single message
Is a note mightier than any weapon or shield

Yet,
If you are so lucky
And are victorious
You shall return
To sleep

But there is no rest.

The night is a nightmare
One recounting the disturbing
And infernal slaughter
As well as the countless all-too-similar massacres that befell before
And as the next day dawns
Your body shakes
At the edge of the same abhorred carnage
Forced to fight once more
A lone survivor
Against a behemoth army
A cycle
One that will continue
As you struggle for the day

The week


The month



The year





But all things come to an end
Because
For every battle
For every fight
Every step
Every breath
You wane

You slowly crack and crumble

Your body can only take so much
Your mind
Can only take so much

And as devastation looms over your soul
Like blood-soaked bandages
And then methodically engulfs it in a shroud

You surrender.

But there's only one way
To end an Endless War.

Because
When it comes to an Eternal Extermination
You have to win
Every day
You have to survive
Every day

However
All it takes is one loss
And there is no fight
There is no battle

You lose once

And the war is over

The Endless War is done

You are done

You

Have Ended.