Numb Companions

So far

I go

When I was far away

I took with me a numb companion

Soothing though barbed.

He took my soul.

Here there were others - armoured,

Their land was a perimeter,

They felt secure,

Safe with the knowledge of restraint -

They tongued between the lines.

Each of us had a double.

A suited entertainer,

Who knew no fear

And wore no protection to the fight,

And had yet to taste -

The bitterness of restraint.