Veterans Poetry
Thousand Mile Stare
Look in a soldier's eyes and you can tell how much blood and war they have seen. The eyes don't make the soldier look brave, because he couldn't look brave even if he tried. Still there is something about a soldier who has seen combat. Their honor comes from the way they live their lives and the respect they show to each other. They are people who have witnessed events beyond others imagination. They have feelings that have been molded by unthinkable bravery and fear. Some are gentlemen and ladies. Some are not. However when they are all together facing cold steel, screaming lead, and enemies that want only to kill them, they keep fighting for each other, themselves, their loved ones, their Country. Some die in the arms of a friend, some die alone in a muddy rice paddy, some make it home and still die alone. Maybe in an alley, maybe a lonely bed where a wife or husband once laid beside them but decided to leave. Some die alone and miserable, with not one person coming to say at the end, "I miss you." Soon they are forgotten or were they ever remembered? Some are remembered. Remembered as that crazy person that lived down the street. They are not remembered for what they did for you and me, and this country. They are remembered as the person they came to be afterward. That came to be because nobody tried to understand, and nobody wanted to see the damage done by the war, to them. See that thousand mile stare? It's there in a Soldier's Eyes. H.G.Stanley, 1969
Dedicated to F Nesman
Today I laid my friend to rest
Had the orange still in his chest
I fired a gun at his request
Damn orange still in his chest
I put the brass in his folded flag
And walked toward his widows cry
Damn orange still in his chest
She said walk with me
And tell me why such a man had to die
Damn orange still in his chest
I could not explain that day why her man had to die
Good by my brother rest in peace
Today I laid my friend to rest
Had the orange still in his chest
By H G Stanley
I CAME BACK FROM THE WAR MORE CONFUSED THAN BEFORE...THE DAY I LEFT.
I DID MY TIME EVEN MORE...AND LOOKING BACK,
I SWEAR, I'M SURE,THERE'S NO REGRETS.
I'VE BEEN OFF THE DRUGS FOR YEARS NOW, BUT I CAN STILL FEEL THEIR HARD EFFECTS.
AS I GET READY FOR MY PLACE AMONG THE US FALLEN VETS.
YOU SEE I FOUGHT FOR A COUNTRY THAT DOESN'T SEEM TO WANT ME, NOW THAT THE FIGHT IN ME IS GONE.
SO THEY SEE ME AS A BURDEN, OR A REFLECTION OF THE PERSON,
THAT THEY MIGHT BE WHEN THE FATHER CALLS THEM HOME.
SO SOCIETY CAN FRAME ME... ON THE PAST GO AHEAD AND BLAME ME... BUT A MILLION LIES, NEVER MADE ONE TRUE.
AND I'D RATHER ROT IN PRISON,THAN ASK TO BE FORGIVEN,
FOR DOING WHAT A MAN HAS TO DO.
WHEN HE'S FIGHTING FOR HIS FAMILY, LIFE AND THE RED WHITE AND BLUE.
SO LOVE ME OR HATE ME - BUILD ME UP AND BREAK ME.
COVER ME WITH COLORS ON THE TRAIN THAT'S HERE TO TAKE ME.
IT'S MY TIME FOR SWEET SURENDER.
SIGNED…
RETIRED SERVICE MEMBER.
~ Spc4 Snipes - Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003-2004) ~
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