ON SEPTEMBER TWENTIETH...NINETY-FOUR,

THE WARS HAD RAGED...THE RAIN WOULD POUR,

ALL WERE TOUCHED...ALMOST NONE SURVIVED,

AND THEN THE CARNIVAL OF LOVE ARRIVED...

ON THAT FATEFUL NIGHT SO LONG AGO,

I WATCHED AS SOLDIERS FOUGHT THE FOE,

BUT THE CAUSE SEEMED SENSELESS & A LITTLE CONTRIVED,

WHEN THE CARNIVAL OF LOVE FINALLY ARRIVED.

AT THAT MOMENT THE BATTLE HAD ALL BUT CEASED,

AS TWO SOLDIERS KISSED & WERE THEMSELVES RELEASED,

AS EACH TOOK OFF THE COLD UNIFORM,

AND FOUND A CALM WITHIN THEIR STORM.

THEIR BEDS WERE WELCOME AS WERE THEIR TEARS,

WHAT THEY SHARED IN MOMENTS MOST SHARE IN YEARS,

BUT THEY KNEW THAT THESE MOMENTS WERE ONLY PRETEND,

FOR SOON THE CARNIVAL OF LOVE WOULD END.

THEY KNEW IN THEIR HEARTS THEY WOULD HAVE TO RESIST,

IF THEY WERE TO ALLOW THEIR CARNIVAL OF LOVE TO EXIST,

THEY KNEW THAT THE WALLS WOULD COME TUMBLING IN,

THE FINAL BATTLE WAS ABOUT TO BEGIN...

THEY STOOD ALONE & WERE TOGETHER CONSUMED,

THEY DIED ON THEIR FEET AS THE WAR WAS RESUMED,

BUT THEY HAD STOOD FOR A PURPOSE & NOW THEY WERE FREED,

THEY DIED TRYING TO MAKE THEIR LOVE SUCCEED.

BUT I WAS THEIR WITNESS...A WOUNDED SURVIVOR,

AND I TOLD THEIR TALE TO THE AMBULANCE DRIVER,

AS I WAS DRIVEN FROM THE CARNAGE OF THEIR LAST DEED:

"THE CARNIVAL IS OVER...SOLDIERS...LEAVE ME TO BLEED..."

BUT THE SOLDIERS THAT DIED RETURNED IN MY DREAMS,

THEY SAID IT WAS WORTH IT...FOR WHAT EVER IT SEEMS,

THEY SAID I WOULD LEARN THAT LOVE HAS A HIGH PRICE,

AND THAT IT IS WORTH ALL THE PAIN AND THE SACRIFICE...

THE SOLDIERS WERE JASON AND GENE WARRICK-WRIGHT,

AND I WILL LIGHT A CANDLE FOR THEM BOTH HERE TONIGHT,

AND MY DOOR WILL STAY OPEN...AND MY LIGHT WILL ALWAYS BURN,

IN THE HOPES THAT THEIR CARNIVAL OF LOVE WILL RETURN...

© MARCH 7, 1995 By Menes

FOR: JASON & GENE WARRICK-WRIGHT