Shall We?

Shall we end this war tonight,
This cold battle of silence between us?
 
 
Shall we boldly unroll our banners of surrender
in gentler breezes for which we both long to breathe.
No words are more strong than those spoken in hunger
by proud, starving mouths of wounded eagles.
 
No soldier has ever regarded my scars with disdain.
Likewise I will hold no blade to your own.
Every star that bleeds from your stigmata
is a guiding light to your cross so I might help you bear it.
 
Shall we discuss the importance, yes, the human need
to replace bad memories in the wake of good ones.
Take our bloodied bandages and turn them into flags of glory.
Take shrapnel from the soul and create solid ring of friendship.
 
 
Not all angels speak with the same tongue of flame.
Teach me your language so I may understand
just where you’ve been, where you wish to go,
and spread fires of passion as I speak to your skin.
 
Sleep if you must when the night’s yawn grows.
You’ve earned your peace and soft nightingale is near
to sing in your ear her secrets as you dream.
I’ll be here to guard your hopes in the morning.
 
When breaks the dawn shall we hie to open field
where stretches an oak from which two lovers once hung.
The woman took her life when he went off to war.
He returned years later and in grief did the same.
 
Shall we turn a new leaf on that same old branch
as I take you to heart and lay every secret
unknown to the night, making love in stark light
to your scars and your birthmarks beneath the aged tree?
 
If your answer be a most heartfelt "yes",
so I with honor agree.
 
Shall we begin?