Spared

quietly we waited for the dawn attack, silently hiding

within the refuge of the dark, lonely night,

sleep was impossible as we tried to hang on to

every minute, every second, knowing they would

likely be our last, on the other side the enemy waited also,

just as afraid, just as unsure, soon it would be

us or them, kill or be killed, for most this would be the

last day on earth;

many openly wept, remembering mothers and fathers,

sisters and wives, brothers and children,

I saw the face of my wife, as she had looked before

the war, before the madness, before the chaos,

before the hatred, sweet and serene,

I was glad she had died early, being spared the emptiness

of what we had now become, the monsters we had all

been reduced too, capable of any cruelty, living only for

death and revenge, reflections of what had once been human;

I was glad she had been spared.

.

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