Punished - The Absent

Then
and only then
are we alive

Lost
but still there
fueling our every step

We wield a secret weapon
powered by the missing
by the lost, the absent
but never truly gone

When the time came
they were torn from us
taken forever
leaving us behind

By cheating death
we cheated life
Punished to carry
Their missing weight

Why are we still here?
Just to suffer?
Why do we still exist?
Is it just to suffer?

The pain, it burns
bright white Phosphorus lungs breathe
both deep and silent

The ghosts of endless grief
They haunt every moment
The ghosts of endless grief

The loss that shapes who
we've become
Memory within our dna
cannot be undone

It burns

Residual impulses coagulate
Like festering wounds
Dormant, in absentia
Never forgotten nor forgiven

We hold our rifles in missing hands
We stand tall on missing legs
We stride forward
on the bones of our fallen

We cling to our dreams, to our phantoms