Return From Battle

I

tend to

think about how

as soldiers returned home

from fighting through wars, many

didn’t receive flowers, hugs, or celebrations.

How they walked into town, legs trembling

Brains still remembering how to pull a trigger

sight of watching, their bullet ricochets off another’s cerebrum

They didn’t know that man, but still hope God will forgive them for it.

Hearing ringing in their ears, cover it up through prayers

fingers collide against each other, palms flat, heads tilt slightly up

towards God.

A savior and a protector.

They wipe their hands, blood staining the grass below,

pulls the sin from them,

as it seeps into the soul of hell.

The soldiers recite scripture with clean precision.

Pray for forgiveness,

for a chance at meeting silver and gold gates.

So they are able to gain 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 do tend to think about the soldiers as they return from home,

And now I can see the spirits that linger

around them.

Bianca Angelino ‘26

I wrote this just while thinking about war. Unfortunately I was just thinking about it and decided to write a piece about those who do not come back from war. Whose souls are trapped in the soil in which they died on.

Always One Step Ahead

Karishma Koodie ‘28

Growing up as the only girl in my family, I constantly felt an unspoken comparison with 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", symbolizing 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.