John Lucey
Hung himself
With a garden hose
He came back from
The desert
Wounded
Inside
Terminally
Wearing two dog-tags
From Iraqi soldiers
Hearing Camel Spiders
Crawl
Under his bed
Unable to atone
For his sins
Whether real
Or dreamed up in his head
1 of 103,000
Estimated
Good soldiers
Barely men
Young
Unequipped
Unexpecting
Coming home
To be heros
Carrying demon’s in their heads –
(A possibly fatal disease)
Do you
Know
1 of 103,000?
Do we even
Take the time
To go beyond
The yellow ribbons?
Or are we too
Concerned with
Gas prices
Inflation
Glad to see
Our soldiers
Coming home
Expecting
Them
To have
What they need.
Not to be
1 of 103,000
That the VA had
Only assumed
To be 24,000
Ill equipped to
Handle the volume...
What solace
Could John Lucey
Find
Standing in a VA
Hospital line
1 of 103,000.
103,000 soldiers are estimated to return from Operation Iraq Freedom with Post Traumatic Stress (PTS)
Byron Headrick
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/1-of-103-000-for-john/
