Bushido

The beast within us
is one we will never know,
but we are the same.

From the core we take.
It once was a useful whole,
now a sharper flake.

The breath of a sigh
outward from a falling chest
makes room for a scream.

Swords in the field teach
of the lungs, stomach, spleen;
what is in a man.

Off the shiny blade's
skin a candle flame reflects,
twin lights in the dark.

                published in For the Love of Death, the early years, 2nd ed., S.I.N., 1993.