Shadows

We can't escape the bad or the good done in a life.

 





























Shadows
 
My sister told me. "You  have changed. "
She told me. "You saw too much s**t and your mind and eyes are cold.."
 
I told her,.
"War isn't personal.
You do what you are told. Try to forget and move on"
 
 I kissed her forehead.
I told her. "War was easy.
This world falling apart around me.
I don't know what to do.?
That the crazy s**t I don't understand."
 
Up in the morning before five.
We don't need no sunshine.
 Organization, discipline, three  square meals a day.
 Old SGT. say. "It will be all OK."
 
Young boss at work asked me too many questions.
 I told  him it is not for him to understand.
 
When you stand tall at attention. Salute a M-16, boots and helmet of a dead soldier.
You join a club.
The soldiers that lived must carry on with their buddies stories and memories.
Drink a beer on the day of their friends death. Can't allow them to be forgotten.
.
 
Lying on cold ground.
 Waiting for a hidden enemies.
 You slapped your magazine to insure it is loaded right.
 You light up a cigarette and hope all things will be alright.
 
Going to Iraq with my gun.
Going to kill some Iraqi sons.
 
 Generals sent Division of soldiers.
Names don't matter.
Reaching for more stars.
 
Mama and Papa sit by the phones.
Wife and family pray for the day their soldier come home safe and sound.
 
Soldiers talk about kids and woman.
Takes up most of our time.
 
No-one talks of dying.
 Ain't no race or religion.
 Protect your friend back and he watched your back.
 
Soldier do right and wrong things.
A lucky man can walk away from  all the s**t and forget.
 
The shadow of war find you one day.
 
 I stood with  a mother of my friend killed in Iraq.
  She  held me up.
 I saluted her son's gravestone.
 
I go to the corner bar with other Veterans.
Drink to friends not here and missed.

Maybe baby sister is right.
The shadows are always with me.
 
                                   COYOTE
                        

Author's Note

Old poem. Soldiers must insure the old one's are took care of. One day we will be the old one's. Any mistakes. Please assist.

Reviews

[E.H. Monroe]

we have this vision of what happens "over there". then the folks "over there" come back here, we throw a parade and then tell em to f**k off because we have better things to do. The war against the enemy is just a war against people who were raised by different fathers and mothers, different gods and rules.
and that creeping shadow of war..s**t man i dont even know that f****r..but i know guys and gals who do, and he is a rancid drinking buddy who runs his fingers down a scar on his face and reminds you you havent seen the s**t like he has. well f**k him.
never any mistakes in a coyote piece...just reality that makes real go...damn that s**t is real.

i salute you sir

[Cascara (aka Sprint Goe..]

Emotions of war are really penned down well.

[Shep]

Very well done the words themselves are a true work of art. It is truly one of your best.

[Tina Kline]

Going through something like a war would/will leave shadows. How can anyone forget? A very moving poem.

[Art Freeman]

humans are the only species so personally defined by their individual past experiences...or shadows...we are constantly trailed by what lurks in our regrets...our darkest hours...and our most trivial mistakes...war is a fertile ground for growing such sentiments...no matter how tough the solider or how distant the war...watching loved ones return in coffins will always be a vulnerable moment for any one...i think this poem hits on all these notions and more...a good write...
thanks

[∂αʌ<..]

and a salute to this poem...
your poems always remain highly emotional to me (i dont know why...actually...), your personal touch adds a unique style to each and every poem you write...the way you told a story in the "Shadows", all the while emanating a moral in between the lines, makes this poem a fantastic one! One of thourough moving emotions and feelings...a great loss...of course, but i also think, your late friend was an imprint of a true soldier...dying for the country can be considered as great but the loss left behind remain an unhealed wound etched in the hearts of the loved ones!

a beautiful tribute sir...beautiful indeed!

[Larry Dyson]

Love and understanding of thissort ..is not to be explained...it just is and should not be alterred..nice write..

[Amy Bumpas]

Yes, the shadows and memories will probably always be there.
A very touching salute to your many tales my friend.

[Rene Velez]

A really detailed view of a soliders way...filled with grit and realism....nice work...

[Becky C Strukamp]

Being a wife, at one time, of a soldier in Korea, you have inked the emotions and the truth well here. When the phone rings,k you cringe, when a letter that you thought might come today, doesnt, you worry, you hear stories, you listen to the news and your husband tells you, "I cant say much, I'm a green baret now and we perform secret missions that will never be told, so you worry worry worry more. This write is wonderful. Thanks for paying tribute to our heroes, for without them, we would not have our freedom today.

[Sagar Waingankar]

My hairs stood tall on my hands while reading it! Eyes with tears filled into it ... but there's no point in shedding tears. It's all about love and respect you have for each of us. I liked each stanza, not any specific stanza's. It's factual and reality. It shows and reflects something else but in actual it is something different! WAR is OVER if you think it is!