After War

Lingering weight
sneaks up
late at night,

lingering weight
lost years ago
awakening
in midnight rain–

tickling,
prickling
as it crawls
through time,
sprawling
across the sheets–

the evening ache
that fills my empty pant leg,
that fills his wife’s empty bed,

the evening ache
that fills hearts and heads,

pain wedded
to lost loves
and lost limbs
and lost lives.