Must I Fight

Write write write,

She said

Each word more impatient than the last

And all I saw was sunflowers wilt

And gulmohars broken at the hilt

Write write write,

She said

Her dark eyes imploring the words to implode

But all I saw was great heights melt

The horizon meeting its own end

Write write write,

She said

Each word restless in the fixity of its self

And all I saw was red ivory

Blue nails and limp carcasses

Write write write,

She said

Each word tipping recklessly over the edge

But all I saw was the rocking horse toppled over
Little fragments of wood and dried glue

But write Write WRITE,

She said

And I slashed paper with ink

I watched as the wounds grew damp and dark

And white flesh faded into pools of leisurely love

Her hungry eyes watched lustily

Waiting for miraculous transformations

While I

Gently laid down stained nib and body

Opened its leather case and let it rest

Eyes shut in heavy prayer

Refusing to open to the battlefields before me

Refusing to see the blood I had shed

Refusing to see the people killed

The branches broken

The petals wilted

If it be this that I must cause

Let me not write at all