War Not Defeated – Poem by Deb Panda

A will shadows my thought,
And confessed to thy eyes where it lost –
And shadow wills my thought,
Under the roof we met at first.
Defeated is this war and disheartened –
Ruled to tempest, heard in the sweet gale,
Bemused and fearless is to meet –
While his voice is sounded no more.
Hold these poison deadly – and walk walked –
Searched underneath his table, with dead past,
And adorned those grieves, pay the price,
And ungainly laughter –
Over a lagged world crosses.
Do look no more, farther with bold eyes,
Tearful are those eyes in morning ash –
Where both equally laid on the chest;
And tamed within his large bending scale.
It holds from Sara to Keats,
Peril where light brings evil spirit –
But never pirated, joy be keen to split –
Where dream is to frustrate and bitter tastes sweet.