We Have Come Home by Lenrie Peters

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We have come home

From the bloodless war

With sunken hearts

Our boots full of pride –

From the true massacre of the soul

When we have asked

‘What does it cost

To be loved and left alone?’

We have come home,

Bringing the pledge

Which is written in rainbow colours

Across the sky – for burial

But it is not the time

To lay wreaths

For yesterday’s crimes

Night threatens

Time dissolves

And there is no acquaintance

With tomorrow

The gurling drums

Echo the star

The forest howls –

And between the trees

The dark sun appears.

We have come home

When the dawn falters

Singing songs of other lands

The Death March

Violating our ears

Knowing all our lore and tears

Determined by the spinning coin.

We have come home

To the green foothills

To drink from the cry

Of warm and mellow birdsong.

To the hot beaches

Where boats go out to sea

Threshing the ocean’s harvest

And the harassing, plunging

Gliding gulls shower kisses on the waves.

We have come home

Where through the lightning flash

And thundering rain

The Pestilence, the drought

The sodden spirit

Lingers on the sandy road

Supporting the tortured remnants

Of the flesh

That spirit which asks no favour

But to have dignity.