Summary: I claimed that this is poetry, but it is really just prose.

Some have already read this from when I wrote it under the name of AJ, but because of the problems I had with my old Fanfiction.com ID, I'm now putting it under this name. Check out my profile to get to some of my old stuff!

Disclaimer: They aren't mine - I just like playing with them

THEY NEVER CAME BACK

(an April Poem)

I once thought it was my fault
But time has tamed that notion
It had been their choice to go
But they never came back


It was in my defense
For the sake of a lady
Their friend, nearly a mother
Used to be I could see them
I could dream about them
Wake up thinking I could touch them


Just after they left
I waited for their return
I expected their knock on my door
I heard their voices
From time to time
Echoing through my memory


And in my prayers
I hoped that they would hear me
Asking them to give some sign
Some indication that they were there


But time faded the hope
The visions slipped
The prayers became few
They weren't home
They never would be


I'd never hear Mike laughing
I'd never again roll my eyes when he told a dumb joke
I miss those jokes
I make them up now
Wondering if he would laugh at them


And Raphael, he was so angry
When he found out what they did
He was the first to cry out for blood
He swore they would never see light
For what they put me through
Those strangers dressed in black


Don thought his way through it
He planned, worked the strategy
Set up the attack and provided the gear
And winked at me as they walked out the door


And Leo stood strong
His mind set
His fists doubled
My honor to be defended
He had a love affair with honor
It was his mistress
His being


And I...
I was the damsel in distress
I was the lady the knights would avenge
The enemy, they said, would pay
They'd suffer for what had been done


Who suffered?
Who fought the hardest?
The hours passed by
Then the days
Weeks, now...
Maybe if I hadn't told them
Hadn't fallen crying in their arms
If I hadn't let them know everything
They'd still be here


But I'm still here
So maybe they won
Death is swallowed up in victory
Perhaps there was nobody left standing
Nobody
Ours, theirs
My friends
Their enemies
I can still see them
Hear their voices


And when the wind blows just right
The soft, gentle touch
Of a hand on my own
And I'll close my eyes
And wish that I hadn't told them
But I did
And they went


And they never came back...

end