The Quarantined War of Young People

By Jaden Goldfain

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Every generation needs a war
to make it great.
Ours does not have guns.
The blood river in the streets 
is not from bullet wounds.
Hell, you can’t even see it.

Our enemy nestles himself
in the six-feet caverns 
between our playground soul-friends,
in the one "like"     
on a suicide letter Instagram post,
in the seven-hundred-and-fourth hour
of social isolation
where he sews vines of stifling solitude,
insecurity,
weariness.     
Over these, we trip and fall heart-first 

into nothingness
without a sound because

the pain of a pixelated face
cannot be tangible
so it must not be real. 
These monsters of shadows
are wizards at convincing us 
that we have no monsters at all.
Everyone is alone,
therefore everyone must want to die,
our grievances aren’t that special.

If we believe them,
that the whisper ache inside us
is just an imaginary friend turned sour,
a natural part of life,
the shadows will become our souls
as they bleed cries of emptiness.
We are hollowed when we believe
“It is finished” was meant for our lives. 

When satan’s lies have clogged 
your heart’s receptors for love
and you haven’t felt 
more than brittle in a week,
Jesus doesn’t feel like enough. 

This is war
because God’s children
no longer feel human.

Fellowship, may you flick loneliness
from the cavities of our souls. 
Breath of Christ, may You undam(n) 
our blood so it may rush in rivers
rather than faucet trickles. 
Roar of the Lion,
may You rip the foam of fatigue 
from a generation’s pulse. 
Saturate and shine our battle line 
with Your vibrancy
and may every young person know--

His hand rests love on your shoulder.
In Him, you are alive today.    
Command satan to get behind you
and run, run, don’t stop running.
In Him, you are alive today.
Beloved,
in this war that seems eternal,
Jesus is more so.

Yes and absolutely 

you are alive.

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Jaden Goldfain is pursuing a BA in Writing from Point Loma Nazarene University, California. Her work has appeared in or is forthcoming in Blue Marble Review, Bridge Ink and iō Literary Journal. She loves Jesus, her friends and 'Stranger Things'.