In the arms of an assassin's wife

Pray for me my lady, I am a soldier yet I

Am without armour when it comes to love

The temptations too many hereabouts and

Too lonely the nights and I fear for my life

My heart is yours yet my loins cry out for

Satisfaction in the arms of the defeated

On the battlefield I suckle on freedom, yet at

The same time I am a prisoner of your heart

The battlefield is strewn with dead men and

Those taverns still standing are awash with

Urgent and discontented love. Men who may

Not see tomorrow have nothing to lose and

The women of a defeated enemy even less

Love in the streets, love in the church, I am

In a world gone mad. Is this war worth

Winning or just another page in the wicked

History of weak men sending strong men out

To die
 

I cannot explain war nor do I know why the

Will of blind men must call upon the innocent

With bombs and destruction. I just follow orders

As too do my fellow officers who away from the

Battlefield seek the only escape there is at the

Breast of women too exhausted to resist, too

In need of compassion to deny their enemy

Anything

And so my lady I beg you pray for my safety

Last night lust woke me with grave misgivings

I saw the seeds of warriors cast far and wide

Partly for pleasure, partly to stamp on the

Bloodline of a weary enemy. I have never lost

A battle in my life but I am losing this one and

I feel fidelity slipping from me as I write

Pray for me tonight my lady for as the fires burn

Wild in another ravaged enclave I am at great

Risk and need the comfort of thy shield to protect

Me. Yes, you may think this no more than bravado

Or the stumbling pride of a love-starved soldier

Seeking to cover up and excuse the misplaced

Passions of war - but I assure you it is neither

Drink will be my confessor tonight and in that

Confession may come absolution and with

Absolution a clean slate and a heated desire to

Give sin a run for its money by taking a woman

Any woman. I know not what incantation may

Conquer when such powerful sorcery is at work

But I pray that you do. I have fought off this

Malady of temptation for over three weeks now

And fear I can do so no longer. Thus, before the

Crime has been committed, I beg your prayers

And your forgiveness perchance I be discovered

Mortally wounded in the arms of an assassin's

Wife
 

©Joseph G Dawson
31/12/2016