IN MORIBUND

She walked among them for a time,
Twisted limbs and blinded eyes,
Reminder of the days long past
When men and women stood aghast
To the view the world as one was taught
The wars in which the soldiers fought
In frail misunderstanding

She moved along to solitude
Her appearance more than destitute,
A pilgrimage of damaged faith
The scars so thick upon her face,
She held but one pugnacious thought
regarding what the world had taught
In mild condescension

She gathered soon a following
Blind as well, but differently
They fell in step and marched behind
The cattle drawn to suicide
While she ahead, would still say naught
The path she walked was so fraught
In chains of apprehension

She governed now a largish town
In her silence wisdom found
The blood of many upon the ground
The men she killed made not a sound
But all who fell had one last thought
Remembering what the world had taught
In misinterpretation

She fell eventually to her rage
With no one left to dig her grave
While blinded eyes still saw no wrong
And twisted limbs were twice as strong
She cried out what she had been taught
From a world in which wars were fought
For naught more than an absent thought
In human understanding