Slipping down the rungs

A poem on how wars damage those that fight them. I wrote this after reading that the same amount of vietnam veterans have killed themselves as died in the war itself

Been home for over six months now
and what they all neglect to tell,
Is that even though the bodies left
the mind remains in hell
Sheets are soaked with sweat and piss,
terrors chase me in my dreams
My heads become the battleground
and nothings as it seems
Fragmented memories of smoke
and gunfire in the streets
Eyes on fire from the sand
and lack of sleep for weeks
A wreck of nerves and anxiousness,
a threat in every face
Surrounded by a people who want
us gone from out this place

 

I wish i could have caught them
Stopped them in their deadly flight
Grasping for rungs on Jacob’s ladder
as the dark devours the light
And the future that they promised me
has become a wall of names
For the pawns are chessboard fodder
in the riches deadly games

 

A frozen moment as our eyes meet
Her knees buckle as she stands
That weapon about to take my life
was a doll in tiny hands
Brown eyes caught in a question
Roses blossom on her chest
This angel makes a demon
Forsaken sons killing the blessed
Every frame exquisite detail,
etched in scars so deep inside
When the monsters are your own thoughts
where on earth is left to hide ?
Again the steel in sweaty palm,

In the chamber lies a key

Cold metals kiss beneath my chin,

One squeeze and then set free

 

Reviews

[AlchemicPlutonian]

God damn. That was astoundingly heavy. So many particular points of chaotic thought, so perfectly articulated.

'And the future that they promised me
has become a wall of names
For the pawns are chessboard fodder
in the riches deadly games'

Brilliantly placed.

The entire final twelve lines are just a pounding.

Fantastic work.

[anartao]

Cheers brother, i'm stoked that you enjoyed it ! I love the process of writing, of creating, but i feel that until someone experiences that work in the means it was intended, it never really lives, or becomes. Thanks for making that difference to my work !