Knuckles red, knuckles bleeding...

For my father.

                        Knuckle red, knuckles bleeding...

Knuckles red, knuckles bleeding.

My father fought and fought,

wars that could not be won.

He told me in his drunkenness state.

He told me. I killed and I killed.

I melted down three machine guns barrels.

I saw body on body of the dead.

Thousand we killed and I didn't want to see the face of the enemy.

I remember my friend left behind.

They are still buried somewhere in the Korean dirt.

He told me. Son, war is s**t, war is hell.

I pray the old soldier can find peace in death. 

In life, my father fought old wars everyday and every night.

My father never found peace.

The damn wars tattoos and spoil the soul.

Killed your hope and your vision.

And the wars are never-ending for men with.

Knuckle red, knuckles bleeding.

Coyote

Author's Note

Thank you for reading.

Reviews

[Chris Shaw]

Your father haunted by the wars he fought in. Perhaps that is why he drank heavily, to try and numb the pain of what he saw, what he did. I hope your father rests in peace. He certainly had none while he lived. A strong write Coyote which reaffirms that war is hell. There are no winners, only losers.

Chris

[Coyote Poetry]

Thank you dear Chris. At the end of his life. He did okay. He found a kind woman. But the drinking killed off his body and he died young.

[Carola]

a very emotive poem, coyote.
those poor soldiers have sights that saturate their minds forever & are different people when coming home from the war.
it would be hard to live with a totally changed father or husband.

cheerio carola

[Coyote Poetry]

I agree dear Carola. War steal the best from us. Thank you for reading and the comment.

[Betty Hermelee]

There is a lot of emotion in this poem. Your father speaks of the horror of war, and all the blood and death, especially of a close friend. war is s**t! Maybe it's better to die in peace, than to live every moment with these war scenes spinning in your head like P.T.SD. Many who suffer from that commit suicide.
very apropos, especially now with Afghanistan
Best, B

[Coyote Poetry]

I agree dear Betty. No-one win in war my friend. Thank you dear friend for reading and the comment.

[Betty Hermelee]

You’re very welcome my friend!!!
Best
B.

[Hayllie]

Although I wasn't able to enlist in the military due to a very bad knee from sports, I often thank God now. I still wish I could have enlisted, but now wounder if I would even be here? Nobody could ever imagine the pain a soldier goes through especially when they come home. Your mind is the loneliest and scariest places you have; and I couldn't imagine the pain of PTSD. Such a good piece friend!

[Coyote Poetry]

I agree dear Hayllie. No-one win in war. Thank you for reading and the comment.

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

My uncle served as a marine in the Vietnam War and will always be haunted by those demons. The stories he shared with me of his time there I would never want to write. He went to hell and left the better parts of himself there. The pieces of hope. Thank you CP for this poem, I believe it speaks with truthful clarity the pain and anguish suffered by those who survive war to return forever changed by it.

[Coyote Poetry]

War teaches us nothing. I was at Death Valley in Iraq. I body-bags many Iraq soldiers. They were in pieces and I learn. We are just men. Thank you Carlos for reading and the comment.

[Ted Kniffen]

Thank you for this John ... if you don't mind I will consider this a testimonial for my Dad also, who never got over the war and died of too much drink at 44.

[Coyote Poetry]

I would be honored my friend. In the end whiskey and the rum killed my father. Ate his stomach away. He died at 61.

[Einstein Noodle]

soldiers don't talk about it much do they?! especially old soldiers .. the horrors of war are graphically imaged in your poem .. the violence and how impersonal the killing but yet ... very personal .. i can feel the stress ... the anguish and pain reading your father's story .. reading leaves me feeling helpless. :(
E.

[Coyote Poetry]

My father talks only of war when he was really drunk and only to me. I had friends who died of the agent orange. I sat with them till the end. They talks of the good days and friends missed. Thank you my friend for reading and the comment.

[Einstein Noodle]

we all have ... and all we have ... is each other ;)

[John the Baptist]

PTSD has always been around, though it went by other names, even if men chose to talk about it. No one can go through an experience like war and be unscarred emotionally. The Korean War, almost forgotten now, was particularly bloody because of the Chinese/ North Korean proclivity for human wave assaults. Very sorry it stayed with your father for so long afterward. Indeed, may he be in peace now.

[Coyote Poetry]

Thank you John. He got lucky in old age. He found a kind woman.

[Glen Yumang Manese]

through it all...the remains still haunt and the reality never goes away...yet the past brings about the lines as concrete as the day it was made to be...

[Coyote Poetry]

I agree my friend. Thank you for reading and the comment.