You see, he was once a man;

Whole.

He was a body and a soul;

But his soul seems to have left him

And only the shell remains.

  The music of war is all he hears.

The thrumming beat resounds inside his empty head,

Matched to the beat of his pounding heart.

   The bullet echoed against his skull.

His body slumped; staring and still.

He put a hand to his own shoulder,

And looked into his own eyes.

   You see, he was once a man;

Whole.

But this time he had no body

and was only soul.