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Not sure what it is about the late night ponderings of my old mind, but it seems the darker side of my memories rise to the top. This was written more then 20 years ago, and its still as real today. Let us remember the Veterans, old and new, for they pay a long hard price for their service to their country. No matter their age, ALL veterans are my heros.

Trike

Draft Dodgers Wonder, Veterans Remember
copyright, 1980

A young man came home with war behind his eyes,
the sounds of eternal violence still echoed in his ears.
He wanted only to leave it far behind, as time began to fly,
but the Fates decreed otherwise, and so they shaped his fears.

Over the aging of the young man into an older echo of himself,
the man remembers each moment engraven on his soul.
In silent memory does he live them yet again in the theater of oneself,
replaying the moments like bitter film clips of that remembered hellhole.

Never speaking of those times, for its hard to explain to one who was never there,
they have no frame of reference to measure the limits of your internal hell.
In silent reflection does one travel across the battlefield of the mind with care,
avoiding the hidden terrors like landmines, in that landscape so starkly fell.