A Simple Command

Let it all go,

dispose the uniform,
gaudy and oblivious,
that saddles up like a drunk
at the bar

asking for more
when nothing is needed,

where thirst will never leave
the well you  hold  at attention
for what might have been
a simple command
from a some private thought.

Make yourself small
enough so you might go
undetected into the night.

Not even careful inspection of all your seams
and the tucks on the edges of your emotional wanting
can uncover the bloody faces
of desire that will never come back
from the raids you commanded

for too many nights
when you might otherwise
have been sleeping
or enlisting out of despiration
and grief.