Ribbon in my hair

They say it never happened

But I fold his coat each night

The war they burned from history

Still marches in my light

They tore the dates from every book

Erased the flags, the names they took

But I recall his muddy boots

The way he danced, the smell of soot

They sealed the streets, denied the cries

Unstitched his rank, replaced the skies

But every time the kettle sings

I see him holding shattered wings

They say it never happened

No records, graves, or guns

But I've been kissing silence

Since the day they stole my sun

He's gone where ghosts aren't welcome

To wars they won't declare

But I still wear his shadow

Like a ribbon in my hair

They sent no letter, draped no flag

Just folded time into a rag

Yet in my chest, a drum still beats

A march for him on vanished streets

They burned the flags and closed the gate

But left me standing at the weight

I wasn't trained to hold the line

But still I guard what once was mine

They say it never happened

No records, graves, or guns

But I've been kissing silence

Since the day they stole my sun

He's gone where ghosts aren't welcome

To wars they won't declare

But I still wear his shadow

Like a ribbon in my hair.

So tell me I'm mistaken

Tell me he's not real

But shhhh - I hear him knocking

With boots of broken steel

They say it never happened

No records, graves, or guns

But I've been kissing silence

Since the day they stole my sun

He's gone where ghosts aren't welcome

To wars they won't declare

But I still wear his shadow

Like a ribbon in my hair