The Warrior Poem by Linda Coker

Too-soon dawns greet bleary eyes
Etched in pain that fail to disguise
Treacherous journeys faced each day
Restless nights fall hard and stay
The warrior trudges on

Clear battle lines cannot be drawn
As boundaries shift, are trampled on
By those who once resembled friends
Then morphed to foes and bitter ends
The warrior trudges on

Unhinged he’s not, by wounds of wars
And countless surface battle scars
With psyche sound in weary head
His aching bones he takes to bed
The warrior trudges on

Marching, stumbling tirelessly
Unchallenged by geography
Rocky crags or forest greens
Seamy landscapes few have seen
The warrior trudges on

The taste of fear, it lingers on
It haunts him like an ancient song
It fuels him, he has felt its sting
He’s known the loss of everything
The warrior trudges on

The goal, the prize, the golden ring
An undefined, ethereal thing
Within the heart the answer rests
What this traveler must possess
The warrior trudges on

(2005)