I walk with heavy shoes
of sorrow and joy,
emotions felt
so confusing to my soul.
I watched youth die
before they could ever rise,
saw pain and suffering unfold
needlessly at the hands
of false enemies trying to survive.
Yet I survived,
at least part of me did
as the rest is lost
to ghostly memories
and screams in the night.
And I wonder with each agonizing
step I take if I will ever be the same,
going home to normality as it is called
with such burdens I now bear upon my heart
which no one there could every understand.
Author notes
Image credit: "Heading Home" by Thomas Kinkade
~Gold~
In a list
A contest entry
- Anything Goes (Almost Anything) by Carly Pop.
500 points, ended December 15, 2007, 23 entries
Gold trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - anything you line.... by medicalpoet.
900 points, ended September 15, 2008, 14 entries
Gold trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 25 of 25
-
I'm glad you entered this in my contest. Thank You. I'm glad you bring up about the part being left behind. In war an innocence is lost. Your awakened to a reality that most people never see. Just as much as a child doesnt understand an adults world and cant be made to. The same goes for a civilian and a soldiers world. Thats why soldiers usually find solice in the company of fellow veterans. And why its so frustrating to those families who want to understand what their soldier is going through.
-
Beautifully expressed.
Mariana
-
Good Flow!
Thanks for entering.
-
Very nice. A clear portrayal of a soldier's thoughts upon returning home- fear that all has changed, joy to be returning to loved ones, battling bad memories while struggling to fit back in to a 'normal' life....great job.
-
I asked my dad question's about the war when I was a child, he didn't really want to speak of it.
Excellent write. -
Yeah, what's normal??
-
Gold!
Great job... loved your write!
-
A well written composition.
Thank you for your entry. -
Excellent!
You give is a glimpse of the pain felt by returning Soldiers as they return from the combat zone to the quiet, "normal" life of routine schedules and expectations. Hope the heart burdens here are vicarious, and have at least started to heal. Thanks...
-
Deserving of gold that is for sure! You have given a new voice to soldiers who sometimes get lost in the world!
-
oh, this is really nice. lines 9-10 and 15-16 come together beautifully.
-
Ah... at last! A poem about soldiering that is neither, mawkishly sentimental, nor gung ho, nor flag-waving. At last one that is compassionate for the human beings inside the uniform, and about "going home to normality"... And it doesn't "moralize". I can see why it got the gold in that contest and, unusually, you have managed to squeeze three claps out of a hard-to-please critic. Well done.
-
Damn, This is great
It was the best of times, It was the worst of times. Buddies closer than your brothers, R&R in Hong Cong and Japan. Scorpions, Mosquitoes, Heat rash, immersion foot, B-40s. Welcome home buddy. And the biggest Cockroaches I ever saw in my life.
-
Wow... this is so intense and so profound. I am just amazed by the depth and hard-to-write emotions you crafted onto this page. I am almost left speechless, yet I can still say that this is just wonderful. It's sad that it's also true, and words like yours help the reader understand what it really feels like and what it all is like - truthfully.
Thanks for sharing & entering my contest A N Y T H I N G ~ G O E S ! Good luck!
M a r l u x i a
-
Thank You
This is a very well written poem that touched me very deeply. I don't think any of us can ever be the same after what we went through, because we all left part of ourselves back there. I salute you for your courage to write about it. -
Please check the last two lines in your poem "bare", "bear" and very?
Otherwise, this is wonderful. Thank you for entering God Bless and good luck in winning
-
Excellent work with this one, I wish you the best of luck in this contest Keep up the excellent writes Dear
-
speechless
amazing work - absolutely beautiful - thank you for your entry! GOd bless you!
-
Sighing...
This truly hit me square in the heart. My brother is going off for training on Jan. 15th for 2 and a half years to become a Special Forces Medic. I know if and when he is deployed, he will never be the same when he comes back. And I can only hope and wish the only thing damaged (and only slightly) will be his memories... Great write here. Good luck.
Lys, Empress of Pandas
-
An old "saying"
A heart is like glass
so handle it with care
If it's once been broken,
it can never be repair!
Congratulations on the Gold Trophy! Sorry about the heartache! You are right in saying:"going home to normality as it is called" yet I feel that a diamond is shaped in so many angles and yet that makes it shine so magnificently! You will sparkle! Just don't give up!
-
:)
Great poem
well done on getting gold -
very good
Thanks for your entry into the contest good luck -
This is such a wonderfully done poem. I wish you the best of luck in this contest. Cathy
-
Such divine respect worded with admiration and honesty. I loved this write, even though its far from home, it did hit close to home.
-
Well described look into the mind of a soldier who's experienced all of the atrocities that war brings. They deserve all the respect which we can bestow.
Adding your comment:
1 - 25 of 25
