New king new laws

At the height of war I was asked to be brave

So I put down my weapons

And so the heart changes loyalty

To a new king

To new laws

Responds to a different name

Not so easily accomplished

But in many small painful steps

Irrevocable losses and questionable victories

Like stitches of a wound unraveling

Just to pierce the skin once more

Weaving up again

Closing,

Letting go

Forgiving

Mending into new skin covering

What is no longer there

That mountain sworn to forfeit

scaled once more

The heart locked and refused to awaken

Moved once more

Because when you come close

I lose my convictions to my previous oaths

They were all I had

They were my bones

Dreams lay on the battlefield like casualties

like ruined empires that wanted to march to the end of time

What could justify such violence

So much suffering between three strangers?

I asked every morning and night,

I waited alone on hot nights unable to sleep

Too confused to pray

Waiting for the insanity to end

I survived the violence of time

He responds,

We must do what must be done

For the only thing worth doing