Return From Battle
I
tend to
think about how
as soldiers return home
from fighting through wars, many
never receive flowers, hugs, or celebrations.
How they walk into town, legs trembling,
brains still remembering how to pull a trigger,
the memory of watching their bullet ricocheting off
another man’s head.
They didn’t know him, but still hope God will
forgive them for it.
Hearing ringing in their ears, covering it up with
prayers,
fingers colliding against one other, palms flat, heads
tilted slightly up—
towards God.
A savior and a protector.
They wipe their hands, blood staining the grass below,
pulling the sin from them
as it seeps into the soul of hell.
Soldiers recite scripture with clean precision,
praying for forgiveness,
for a chance at meeting those golden gates,
so they are able to embrace the holy wings of the Lord.
Crying through Deuteronomy 5:17.
To prove they repent,
to prove they haven’t sinned,
that they haven’t ignored the word of God.
I often tend to think about the soldiers as they return
home from war,
and now I can see the spirits that linger
with them.
Bianca Angelino ‘26
I wrote this piece, while thinking about armed conflict. Unfortunately, I was thinking about it and decided to write a piece about those who do not come back from war. Those whose souls are trapped in the soil where they died.
Always One Step Ahead
Karishma Koodie ‘28
Growing up as the only girl in my family, I constantly felt an unspoken comparison to my boy cousins. Over time, I began to view those dynamics as a strategic game, much like chess, and that realization inspired this piece. I chose to depict my hand holding the queen because my middle name, Rani, means "queen,’ which symbolizes both identity and strength. Rather than knocking down the king, I chose a pawn simply because I didn't want the game to end, as the tension and quiet competition are ongoing. To emphasize the surrealist style, I contrasted my realistic hand adorned with Indian-inspired jewelry with illustrated, black-and-white chess pieces.