Have you ever heard a soul shatter?

Have you experienced …

not just heard

but experienced

a soul shatter?

… mother’s anguish

upon learning her child

has died

on a distant battlefield?

… a man dropping

to his knees

his world cracked and broken

because

because

his partner is gone?

… a forest echoing

a haunting yowl

that ricochets off the trees

not knowing if it was

a wolf

a bear

a mouse …

… returning home

finding a silent empty cave

a bloody burrow

a lifeless mate

laying in the crimson snow

or mud

or grass?

… the lamentation of a human being

the agony

pouring from his lips

that is not just his?

He has become an instrument

a. device

for conveying the final thought

the final scream

the final breath

of every de-limbed

exploded

gutted

shredded

shot

crushed

raped

and burned

man, woman, and child.

He has become the instrument

for every obliterated

house

tree

and stone.

He has become the instrument

the horrified voice

of the entire universe.

TJB August 2028