Kathryn Collins Poet Free verse

Notes About The Poem

Veterans of Vietnam

Do you still carry it with you, 
the rifle of the fight?

Are you absolved in your bravery
even though you did not die?

Do you see worth
for what you risked?

I could not smell your perspiration
as we danced the boogaloo at home.

We were all so young;
all of us;
no chance to think;
each in a different reality.

And there are those who are forever young
prisoners of the mind, of the soul, 
of the earth framed in heartache by loved ones. 

© revised May 26, 2012
Kathryn McL. Collins

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Terry O'Leary May 22, 2013 at 4:41 PM Kathy... it was disturbing the first time I read it... and it still is... Terry

Keith Bickerstaffe May 20, 2013 at 11:32 AM How can we ever put ourselves in their place, or they in ours? The constant worriers at home, and our warriors abroad, struggling to stay alive... and both struggling to cope with realities of separation and loss. BRAVO Kathy!! Love, Keith

Poet Destroyer A May 13, 2013 at 7:50 PM Kathryn, I thought of my dad when i read this poem. He's a Veteran of war. My mom, once tole me my dad was a prisoner in his own mind... and I still wonder what she meant.. thank you for sharing~ Linda

Jack Horne May 11, 2013 at 3:18 PM awesome write, my friend