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The warrior clings, Claws, fights to fight Still with bullets in her back She crawls The wind howls persistently, Consistently blows Against the trees When they refuse to bow The water beats and leaks, Drips on stone To wear it down, drown it Even if it takes one hundred Lives and paths around the Earth The salmon leap dams Until their silver flesh Grows blue and bruised, Their insides batter, And still they climb The birds fly south A thousand miles from All they know, With the threat of frost On their feathers When they survive another year, When the salmon bare children, When the stone finally moves And gives way to a new fresh spring, When the trees crash, And new life sprouts From the deadened base, When the soldier takes the final blow… These helpless participants In a world they didn't design Become the catalyst, key For a whole new world to blossom and bloom They're not in it for the thrill For their health, While with broken, blackend bodies They bleed onward They don't do it Because they want to Or because they were encouraged Or because it was commanded of them They don't do it because law And nature demands, Or because they are programmed to There's no wealth, No thoughts of glory In those moments at the end When it is "succeed or fail" They do it because they must. Because not doing it isn't an option Because a life without their deeds Is not life Because if they don't… their world will die. It is for this same desire Same perseverance, Insistence Tenacity Relentlessness With no option but to keep fighting No other words but "fight", No other thoughts but "do" No other breaths Than the small gasp of pain Followed by the determined gulp of air It is with the same breaths that I cannot cease Cannot desist Cannot resign Cannot send in the white flag Cannot accept the fate Cannot let it be That you are slipping away. I must take the beatings, and keep fighting. I must accept the wounds, the bullets, And keep crawling for you. I must succeed. I must keep fighting. I must keep fighting. I must keep fighting. I must keep fighting. Because dying isn't an option. The war was won The new life bloomed The salmon bred The birds survived the season And we will see the light again. Because it must be.
0
Mar 1, 2013
Mar 1, 2013 at 3:17 PM UTC
I Cannot-- Because I Must
The warrior clings, Claws, fights to fight Still with bullets in her back She crawls The wind howls persistently, Consistently blows Against the trees When they refuse to bow The water beats and leaks, Drips on stone To wear it down, drown it Even if it takes one hundred Lives and paths around the Earth The salmon leap dams Until their silver flesh Grows blue and bruised, Their insides batter, And still they climb The birds fly south A thousand miles from All they know, With the threat of frost On their feathers When they survive another year, When the salmon bare children, When the stone finally moves And gives way to a new fresh spring, When the trees crash, And new life sprouts From the deadened base, When the soldier takes the final blow… These helpless participants In a world they didn't design Become the catalyst, key For a whole new world to blossom and bloom They're not in it for the thrill For their health, While with broken, blackend bodies They bleed onward They don't do it Because they want to Or because they were encouraged Or because it was commanded of them They don't do it because law And nature demands, Or because they are programmed to There's no wealth, No thoughts of glory In those moments at the end When it is "succeed or fail" They do it because they must. Because not doing it isn't an option Because a life without their deeds Is not life Because if they don't… their world will die. It is for this same desire Same perseverance, Insistence Tenacity Relentlessness With no option but to keep fighting No other words but "fight", No other thoughts but "do" No other breaths Than the small gasp of pain Followed by the determined gulp of air It is with the same breaths that I cannot cease Cannot desist Cannot resign Cannot send in the white flag Cannot accept the fate Cannot let it be That you are slipping away. I must take the beatings, and keep fighting. I must accept the wounds, the bullets, And keep crawling for you. I must succeed. I must keep fighting. I must keep fighting. I must keep fighting. I must keep fighting. Because dying isn't an option. The war was won The new life bloomed The salmon bred The birds survived the season And we will see the light again. Because it must be.
brittany-s-knight
Written by
Mar 1, 2013
Mar 1, 2013 at 3:17 PM UTC
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