Summer refused to leave,
we caught it lingering
outside our kitchen window;
squeezed sweat from our brows,
glued legs to chairs;
kept papa under the
the shadow of the old willow.
I'm sure he heard mama crying
over the news about Johnny,
looked in her blue eyes,
cloudy as when she told Johnny
and me, Papa lost his mind;
blamed it on another war.
I know he heard the words,
"Your son is missing in Iraq,"
since he asked the uniformed man,
"If you find my son, will ya look for
my legs? They won't be far away."
Mama blamed the rise in temperature,
told me "Go inside and don't argue!";
tried to convince her papa finally
spoke after almost a year;
things heated up fast round here.
My heart breaks for my brother,
so tonight I'll open his window,
hope he'll climb back in,
finally rest in peace since
sneaking out to join the
army his last birthday.
Can't really blame him for that,
wasn't much for him to do around here
anyway,except to sit for
eighteen years and weep
under the shadow
of his purple hearted hero.
Adding your comment:
Note I said one family)I hate to imagine how often a scene such as this or similar repeats itself......and here we are helpless. How can anyone still buy the words that we are protecting our freedom? Protecting our freedom to means securing our own nation and defending it from intruders....yet we are still wide opened to invasions at so many points......tunnels and bridges, unprotected borders, too few soldiers left on home-soil....instead we have sent them over there and so far but for a loss of innocent lives not much has yet been accomplished. Was the focus not on capturing Bin Ladin? Was it not Afghanistan....yet we invaded Iraq (lies that had us believe they had weapons of mass destruction)So Bin Ladin is still free......as are the ones that shortly after Sept 11th mailed this white powder substance around the country. No-one talks about that anymore (maybe in the hopes that we will forget all about it)So sad......personally I hate this war, however I support our troops and I feel for their families. It is time to bring them home...and maybe we could send some of our leaders over there for a bit.....but they stay out of harms way. They send our young ones to their death....the same ones that under our laws can not have a beer yet, but they can put their lives at risk??????? where is the rationality in this???????
but a second read brings many insights. True feelings bursting at the seams to get out. 
...
Anyway, great job and thanks for sharing!
