Screaming Defiantly at Bullets

I loved you like a man,
Loved sunlight, trapped in a cave.

I who was a king,

Learned to love you as a slave.

Like the orphan loved the memory,

Of his barely remembered mother.

The veteran sitting slowly drunk,

Remembering the hand of his brother.

Who carried him to safety,

Through the wires and the pickets.

Who whispered to him and stood,

Screaming defiantly at the bullets. 

I thought love meant never being a fighter,

You whispered it would only take me higher.

But my limbs were made of flesh,

My weapons made of hope and truth.

And hope cannot survive,

All the battles that rage in you.

There is a man out there,

Who will love you more than I.
But you'll make him feel wretched,

And try and try and try.

Now I've packed up my light and must be going.

I am a comet unwelcome in your sky.

Once the secret behind your smile,

Now the ugly truth leaking out your eye.

And this will make you angry.

This will take you further out of reach.

But this is what I've learned,

From whatever lesson you were trying to teach.

But I remember how we moved together

I never wished to do this alone.

So I'll take all this empty space,

And once again make it home.