One of my poems in this book is called:

The Soldiers Fight.

This poem depicts a soldiers journey returning from a Combat Deployment. The struggle to find the words that lay in a head to describe the feelings of not knowing what he feels.

Here the poem tells the story of returning in body and lost in mind. "Sometime I look but I do not see what has made and become of me". The poem continues to describe the battle of not knowing what has become of the person he once knew and the internal struggle that comes with that.

The poem further depicts the struggle of his loved ones in the lines "Look look I hear you scream where are you gone from me".

The poem goes on to reveal his struggles with a silent battle of Moral Injury and Trauma where he talks about the things he can never reveal in the lines "I hear me scream and try to square things that I can never share" relived in his exhausting battles of sleepless nights.

The poem culminates in his plea to his loved ones to be patient with him in the line" I ask you please be patient, I ask you please understand, I don't want to be me right now I want my old self back".

The poem closes with his promise of "weathering the storm and winning the fight" all in a desperate attempt to "be the person he has long forgot".

The poem was inspired by A Veteran, A Friend, A Warrior and I will truly value your friendship throughout my life. Thank you for your sacrifice & service.