What Will Be Left of Me. ?

There is

a little bit of love left in me

and it's looking just for you*

I don't know how long it will endure

Or if it will remain True

but I hope it''s enough to last me

til the day my eyes fall upon you.*

I hope it will survive

the trials that I will face

the burned hands

the crippled minds

the broken smiles

  the half-formed laughs that turn to cries of anguish

the half-healed scars

the hasty bandages

triaged and loosely patched

  the cracked, forgotten lips

the recoiled hands

the burden of trusts

revoked.

I hope it will still be whole

so that the day I meet you,

I do not pass you by

I do not reject your smile

I do not miss your laugh

I do not overlook your mind

I do not take lightly, your trust

I pray that I do not succumb to the fatigue of war--

for that is what I face til then

a war of the heart and soul and mind

a constant war of wills 

and a test of constitution

of perseverance and resolve--

a war of kindness tested.*

I hope for its survival--

that I will not give up

So that I may love you

now

then

tomorrow

forever

again, throughout the ages.

but come quickly

steal swiftly through the night

for I fight the fight of men 

by sun and candlelight

Even I, will one day tire

of every hard-won fight turned to loss*

and the pitter patter sound of wounded men

dripping from bleeding hearts

scabbed over and reopened

again and again