The price
by cricketjeff on December 15, 2008. © Jeff Green, All rights reserved
Unblinking eyes stared out beneath that heavy wrinkled brow,
No hint of raw compassion in their gaze.
Those eyes had seen the best and worst that people will allow
And now they watch the passing of the days.
It seemed a thousand years ago that he had been to war
And seen the deeds unblinking eyes admire or just abhor.
Another life, another world, another mind was lost
And nothing then had seemed too much to pay
But these two eyes’ unblinking stare betrays the awful cost;
They see the dreadful deeds on every day.
He lost his life but did not die, he stares without a blink.
Locked deep inside a mind that now has just one thought to think.
At first they tried to find a way to bring him back to life
He fought for them and so they fought for him.
The doctors and his family and finally his wife,
Gave up the fight, the prospects were too grim.
He never showed emotion as they tried and then they failed.
The part of him that knew these things stayed very tightly jailed.
At last, last night, without a blink the final light was dimmed
No one was there to hear his final breath.
The last remaining vestiges have now been neatly trimmed
The years without a life have met their death.
The best and worst that can be seen will now be seen no more;
Who wants to say that here’s a price that they would pay for war.
Author notes
In extended ballad meter sixains rhymed ababcc in each stanza.
English