War is the ocean I swim in.

On killing fields I toil,

lit by bursting shells,

laughing at death's whispered breeze.

Bullets cut the air, closer each day

yet none ever find their mark.

The chilling screams of fallen men

inspire me to fight -

and live.

I kill the enemy with a cold passion

akin to love

yet I feel no arousal.

I suck my wounds to slake a thirst

that seems infernal, and

sleep in dragon's footprints.

I call myself Paladin

and need no friend or lover

yet dream of meadows and mistletoe…

Craving no mercy, I show none

and they die as my eyes turn black

and my heart turns as hard as my blade.

                                                                    more of my FREE VERSE POEMS here