Comrades In Black

If this were more than ordinary ink upon a page
would I have given, then, more than others gave
who (not being given, themselves, to outright rages)
left no more than merely ink, or less, upon a page?
No. We are but those who strut and fret on stages,
seek a lasting voice with which to voice a rant or rave
in common ink, no more, upon an ordinary page.
Oh, would that I have given as much as others gave.

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(An old triolet, dredged up and revised for this week’s prompt–Black And White–at One Single Impression)