The Page Turns

In the dust and fading thunder
a soldier tastes his final breath.
Valor, fear, and purpose drift—
soft shadows loosening from his chest.

He sees the war slip through his hands,
its glory, pain, and borrowed pride.
All he lived becomes a story
written faintly on Time’s quiet side.

A page is turned; he feels it move—
the echo of a world he knew.
Somewhere, a new beginning stirs,
untouched, unwounded, pure and true.

And in that hush, he understands:
no right, no wrong, no crown to claim—
for when the book of life turns over,
all battles fold into the same.