The War Inside
by Laura Dannielle Kilgus

It is the war inside.
It is what clouds dreams.
But makes me afraid to open my eyes to taste the day,
Because on my tongue is the memory of you.
Bittersweet, that was you.
The combat in my heart,
The struggle to remember,
It is the war inside.
It is the pain creeping through my body.
The grieving in my chest,
My invisible wounds.
The battle of my emotions.
Fake the smile or weep for myself?
I understand my tears and nothing else,
Because I see the world through shattered glass.
A broken heart, debris from the war inside.
I fall to the ground and cry and cry-
Holding up my white flag because I surrender to that war inside.
I say I'‚ll be all right; I lie
But in that glimpse of hope,
I don't want to be the victim, the casualty.
No, it is the survivor who I could be.
My own survivor of the war inside.

Laura Dannielle Kilgus has just completed her freshman year at Daemen College. She is still deciding on a major field of study. In her own words, Laura has written "Here is my poem. I really have never written a poem before, so this is a first for me. It is a "war" poem, war in a different sense".