Brokerage

You were my friend and comrade

Now we must battle our kinship
For a failure of the wise to agree
When talk fails in a black night
A deal has to be brokered in blood
But such, this precious liquid of life
It flows without end once sprung
Leaching away the best of humanity
Into long, cold, years of conflict
These days rise like spectres of chance
Ghosts shadowing mirrored visions
Empty of all reflected opportunity
Silvered, silent water, at wasteful dawn
No discord is worth an unclaimed life
Where peace hides in dread of its sibling
We should find it and let it seize the day