Stop The Iraq War

Stop The Iraq War Poem- Soldier's Daughter Poem

In the war that never ends, he sits in his room.
For years his mind would pretend
that he hadn't lost freedom, love, dignity
Left with wounds so deep they never mend.

Maybe a wiser man to lose your mind,
when the visions that flicker on and on,
show a world gone so wrong.
He knows many are blind.

She cries in the night, that awakes her from sleep
haunted by voices, that scatter and seep in hallow asylum walls,
that echo in administration's war calls.

He was called to fight, he was the young, the strong, the fated pawn.
The warrior marches on,
with stories of combat undergone, memories of precious lives that fell.
Images of hell that tangle and twist in his mind,
and stories so buried he can never tell.

With his battle's scars, he dwells in fear,
in places so dark, who can he tell?
When no one seems to want to hear.

Traded a young man's dreams and wishes for death, partitions,
flag draped coffins, and ammunitions.
Close as breath a memory seems, his fear never softens.

Alone in his room he stares and stares
as the television blares,
he tells his daughter he's had a bad day,
but not to worry as it's been that way for years.
She feels her tears.
He says,"the news declares more troops died today"
He asks her "if anyone cares?" What can she say?

They all told him in Nam "you won't remember the wounded, the dead"
Yet, he remembers their faces and pain as he recites them by name,
with stories of how they each reached their end.
Lost for time in a battlefield haze that lives in his head.
Where his mind returns again and again to honor those slain.
Until he asks her again, "How much longer until we bring the troops home?"

He sees them all die again and again,
and prays for the ones who make it back home.
Home does not change, everything in their head.
He knows many will roam on a hard road to tread,
The meds, buried friends, hospital beds, a soldier, a vet alone.
In a system he knows well, too many will dwell.

They seal his fate and say he lost his mind,
as they lock away the soldier who knows.
It seems his thoughts become clear, when he has his daughter near.
His soldier's wisdom to find in prose.
He knows what he sees is so wrong,
He asks her to write a peace song,
War scenes on flicker on and on.

Though he has come home decades ago, he lives in war that never ends.
He wonders were it all went wrong, lost years,
and how many will come home to sing his sad song,
of a war that lasts far too long.

Copyright© 2006 Kristin Lee