What Do You Do
This was inspired by combatwombat14's one-shot "all the decisions"
I like it and hope you do too.
...
What do you do
When you win the war
But your internal battles are still raging on
And it doesn't seem like you winning
Losing against yourself
What do you do
When you get attention for being a hero
But inside you know
The real heroes are the dead ones
The ones no longer alive to celebrate the victory
What do you do
When they say you're too humble,
But you just don't want the fallen to be forgotten
They celebrate, give you statues in honor of your bravery
But all your dead friends, comrades only get a tombstone
What do you do
When they call you a buzzkill
For not celebrating your victory
But you don't want to celebrate
Because you can't help but think that victory comes at a greater price than anyone could have thought
And who was the real winner
If all you can think of is the warriors
The children
Dying before they can reach 18
And of their families, who never got to say goodbye
What do you do
When you can't help but think that maybe,
Just maybe
You didn't win at all