War Prayer

…with apologies to Mark Twain

This is the last full moon

of our pseudo-innocence

rising wide at the horizon

and diminishing its arc

onto the stage of war.

A colorless sunset

announces this March moon 

announcing Aphrodite’s betrayal

as it slithers into the waiting arms

and anxious fingers of Ares.

This last full moon

of our pseudo-innocence

slides through a colorless sky

over colorless blood

bleeding from colorless necks and wrists

on colorless dirt

now turning 

black 

scarlet 

and

lurid with our guilt.