Particular Words in a Specific Order

campaign of countless victories
that was our collective acknowledgement
that the empire was beginning to crumble
                           a victory lap before
                           the battle had finished
yet I only had lost
by the length of uncut hair
                           curled hands buried
                           in sheepskin blankets
                           these are the innocents left over
I had become culled
just as the victims before me
by an unseen force
                            such a soft grin
                            under sunken, oval eyes
                            I did not slay him!

2020