Pity Him.
The one who returns home from a war
unscathed outwardly
after seeing comrades roll over and die
or lie screaming in pain
seems to be healthy and free but he is
scarred all the same.
He tries not often to dwell on the facts
that plenty of men
turn useless with too much re-call, for
with others\' blood
on hands all around courage gives way
when bad dreams
take him back time and again to some
scene where stench
of dead mates is so real he can taste it.
Some injured men
cry like a baby who is looking all ways
but cannot find
Mum,Dad or kin for relief from reality.
He whose nightly
dreams do not wake him to the peace
of that brand new
world promised by leaders whose Yes
sent myriads to
slaughter but left more to come back
bearing internally
injured minds which nobody guessed.
A veteran has to
live in the same skin as before but as
he did the things
needed back then he has a shadow to
carry now with
a weight like lead that is ever inward.
Pity him who cannot
escape nor get far away enough from
memory\'s terror
of yesteryear-hell, he who prays most
sincerely never
to sleep again for fighting in battle can
change any man
as being in war makes right or wrong
not very much
different to him or to other returners.
Nor will he shake
off guilt felt in coming home all in one
piece any more,
when in reality there will be no peace
for minds over again
amid friend and enemy rooted in war
that can only murder
or at best stave off effects of its maim.