We Old Men

"Products of bleak times;
the only answer left
for us is despair."

We are now thirty-four.
The gleam is gone;
the world is awful.
We've had no part

but picking up pieces,
trying to make whole
people – of ourselves, mostly.
You were the fighter

for those without fists;
I was the voice
for the dumb. Were
we wrong to think

anyone gave a damn?
Least of all those
we “helped.” No combat,
no blood, but plenty

of gore, the ugliness
of human nature is
the challenge for us -
haunts our dreamless nights -

and those who love us.
Products of bleak times;
the only answer left
for us is despair.
------

The Collected Chaff, v. 1.0