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Dale Totten Poem
Free at Last
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• He thinks back to a time, when he was so young.
M-16 on his shoulder, around his neck dog tags hung
Dense jungles made thin, by what they had sprayed.
His mind drifts to home, and the places he played.
He thought he was melting, in heat so intense.
His skin bubbled and scorched, did this war make sense?
C-rations his food, his appetite gone.
Becoming so thin, but he had to stay strong!
Numb now to fear, the battle raged on.
Back home they were screaming,"Get out of the Nam"
Hendrix and Dylan, The Stones and The Doors.
His music of choice, during his tours.
Snakes in rice paddy's,snakes in the trees.
Mosquitos so thick, filled with disease.
Rats in bunkers, searching for scraps.
45 automatics, the better rat traps.
Sleeping in shifts, in holes dug chest high.
Claymores out front, M-60's close by.
Shrapnel flying, from rocket attacks.
Diving for cover, no time to relax.
Sneaky little enemy, they called them VC.
Living in tunnels, so hard to see.
Dressed in black, like everyone there.
They were all over, just didn't know where.
Home from it all, he no longer fit in.
So he stayed in a stuper as war raged within.
Three decades of anguish, then came that day.
He was finally rescued, and shown a new way.
A Savior from heaven said give me your pain, give me your sin, let none remain.
I love you, you see, you've suffered too long.
Get under my wing, with me you belong.
His chains were then broken and he was set free.
Free from his sin and PTSD
Joy fills his heart, where once was just pain.
His love for The Lord, he can not contain.
Thank You Jesus
Dale M Totten
Copyright © Dale Totten | Year Posted 2016
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Dale Totten Poem
Merry Christmas
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Dangling on the thread of time,
suspended with little hope.
Dancing to the same old tune,
trying hard to cope.
Strings pulled, buttons pushed,
controlling all they do.
Aware, but can't get free,
slaves through and through.
Clinging to Isaiah's word,
that there will come a day.
When God will send a deliverer,
to sweep their enemy far away.
And there will be joy and jubilation,
when He comes and sets them free.
Love and peace will rule with justice,
For all eternity........
See their dilemma My Son,
there's nothing now that they can do.
Sin has them chained and bound,
now its time that they met you.
I must send you down to them,
there is no other way.
Teach them to love in truth,
show them a new way.
But my son there's something else,
I must have you do.
Take all their sin upon yourself,
and die a death so cruel.
You'll suffer pain like no one else,
to pay their penalty.
It hurts me so to ask you Son,
will you do this for them and me.
After three days with the dead,
you'll be raised and brought back home.
Never again to suffer,
never again to be alone.
Love is what we are My Son.
Love is what we do.
Take our love down to them,
show them our love is true....
Glory to God in the highest
And on earth, peace and goodwill towards men
Emmanuel, The King of all Kings
has been born this day in Bethlehem
Merry Christmas
Copyright © Dale Totten | Year Posted 2018
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Dale Totten Poem
(Civil) War
With incision, create division.
Bury the red, white, and blue.
Play them all, they will fall.
A masterminded coup.
O say can you see, they all disagree.
Just watch the division grow.
Hating each other, brother on brother.
Milk and honey no longer flow.
Blood in the street, vision complete
War won, by words on the net.
So easy to do, nothing is true
Fake news a sharp bayonet.
Copyright © Dale Totten | Year Posted 2018
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Dale Totten Poem
Like in a dream I see it
Angels charging from the sky
Mighty warrior on a white horse
With blazing fire in his eye
Coming to bring justice
To make this world right
Jesus take me with you
When you fight that final fight
We are one nation united
Under You My God, My Lord
For liberty and justice
We always don our sword
Never do we back down
We have You on our side
Jesus take me with You
When You make that final ride
Rumblings heard from heaven's way
An eruption splits the sky
An avalanche of white on white
Charges down from on high
Evil gathers armies
An attempt to go to war
But The King of Kings, The Lord of Lords, slays them with His sword
Jesus take me with you
dress me all in white
Mount me on a white horse
For that final fight
I know you sure don't need me
But let me have a part
Though I'm old and tired
I'm still a soldier at heart
Dale M Totten 2010 Rev 19:11
To soldiers everywhere !
Copyright © Dale Totten | Year Posted 2016
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Dale Totten Poem
PTSD
Here we go again, reality is setting in, or is it?What is it?
It sometimes feels more like a dream, not the pleasant fairytale kind, but of the nightmare genre.
Gotta go back to ga-ga land, back to where Alice lives.
My way to cope, there's no hope there, but it's tolerable.
Stuporville, is better than that other world, the place that war dropped me off and deserted me.
I no longer have identity. I've been labeled shellshocked and crazy. Missing in action, left behind, a prisoner of war.
Another casualty, wounded, carrying a hidden, nasty scar forever.
Got DNA that says yep, that's him, but my friends don't recognize me, heck, I don't recognize me.
Has anyone here seen my old friend John, I just turned around and he was gone.
They say I'm getting better, time heals all, increase the zombie pills, make him fall, back to the future, but not the past, my world is spinning so so fast. What year is it anyway. Put him into therapy, with others like him, misery loves company you know. Maybe I should go back, find myself, or the part I left there. Does anybody care?Well I know my mother still does. I can tell by hugs that don't want to let me go, and tears that say" I know, I know". I hate to see her cry. Sometimes I wish I would just die. Spin the wheel, a one in six chance, this could be your very last dance. You got to pay to play though. Goodbye MIA, so long POW, tag me KIA. "Click", Uh-oh, here we go again, chased by madness and guilt, blood spilt, war is hell, do tell.
Reality is setting in, or is it?
Copyright © Dale Totten | Year Posted 2016
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Dale Totten Poem
Slow it Down
There was a time not long ago,
when yes was yes, and no was no.
Good was good, and bad was bad,
happiness seemed simple to be had.
You lived out loud, and didn't care.
You knew the law, and what was fair.
Your neighbor then, was a friend,
that you could trust, and would defend.
Life was so much simpler then ...
What happened? Who turned the page?
Now we're in this cyber age!
Did I go to sleep too long?
Sometimes I feel I don't belong!
Is it all somehow wrong?
Do you know your neighbors name?
Life is played out like a game.
Looking for that edge to fame.
It sometimes seems so insane.
Who's to blame?
Technology goes too far too fast.
The media looks for someone to blast!
Nothing ever seems to last.
Are all the good times in the past?
The big screen now is in your home.
Everyone a slave to loan on loan.
You do more than talk on your phone.
Everything about you is now known.
Wake up people, look around.
Don't let technology keep you bound!
Smell the roses, slow it down.
Don't miss the things that do astound .
Things of God, look at all he's done.
The stars, the moon, the blazing sun.
Majestic mountains, reaching high,
into the cloud studded, deep blue sky,
God's perfect paintings, money can't buy.
Colors dance in fields of flowers,
emerald forests, redwood towers.
Birds each morning, sing for hours.
Deep blue seas, where rivers flow.
The beauty of freshly fallen snow.
Slow down, or you'll never know,
the things you may be missing!
Copyright © Dale Totten | Year Posted 2016
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Dale Totten Poem
Didn't really fit in, so I put up a facade, built upon my sin, to make em grin, and applaud. It was all just a fraud.
Outrageous me, courageous me, Look, I'm free, nothing gonna cage me! I got no fear!
Ah, but that was all just smoke and mirror, I'd make fear disappear, but not on the inside, that's where it would hide, feelings there were not denied.
Unseen, like in a dream, things were not the way they seemed.
Inside I was shakin', outside fakin', always makin' a fool of myself. Feelings put up on the shelf, denying self.
This was all before, before the war, and grace galore, before him, now I'm comfortable in my own skin, and I'm livin', in thanksgiving for him.
Oh yeah, you remember me. You say, how can that be, is it just another game? He's the same, watch and see. This is how he plays, always, looking for some praise with his outrage. But no, I'm telling you I can't go back, grace has got my back, and love has got me on this other track. Yeah,
He's got me covered A-Z. You see, there ain't no more other me. He's gone for good, new man standing where the fool once stood. And I'm rich, I got treasure inside. No more divide, I got a whole new start, and a brand new heart, Beating out love, that ain't gonna hide. Yeah unconditional, transitional love, an overwhelming comfort from above. Knowin everything's going to be okay, I'm loved anyway. No matter what I do, or what I say, I got it. All the pieces finally fit.
Good news, you can have it too. He told me to tell you. But you must choose, so come check it out. Don't lose! Ain't no doubt about it, read all about it. It's Good News. Indeed!
Copyright © Dale Totten | Year Posted 2016
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Dale Totten Poem
In the silence of my sleep...In the silence of my dreams
In the silence of my thoughts... in the silence are my screams
The Sound of Silence
Hello darkness my old friend
I’ve come to talk with you again
Because dark shadows keep creeping in
Waking dreams sleeping within
And the visions planted deep within my brain
Drive me insane
Splitting the sound of silence
In my dreams I walk alone
Among bodies laying prone
Eyes wide open, but they can’t see
This nightmare playing out in me
And I feel like a prisoner, chained and bound
No one around
Only the sound of silence
Fifty years have now gone by
But I keep asking myself why
So many died and never made it home
They left us living here all alone
With thoughts of that day they gave their all
They heard the call
Of silence
Where do we go now from here
The sound of silence loud with fear
Though fear was conquered many years ago
It returns from somewhere deep below
Rising from the ghosts of a shattered youth
Seeking truth
Searching the sound of silence
Look now deeply in his eyes
can you hear the battle cries
Hidden somewhere past that dark, dark stare
Behind a wall built on despair
young innocence is lost never to be found
Held deep down...suffering the sound
of silence
Copyright © Dale Totten | Year Posted 2020
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Dale Totten Poem
As the sun travels down to the other side,
The dark begins it's journey back.
The sky is like an artist painting over blue,
with orange, purple, gray, then black.
My heart begins to thunder,
with new life once more.
That critical, all revealing orb is gone,
time to unlock the door.
Part the curtains, raise the shades
get up out of bed
Get the coffee brewing, head on out
they say it's the time of the living dead.
Gone the imperfections of the day,
hidden in the comfort of the night.
Confidence is being restored
in the dancing shadows of the low crescent moon light.
Some say evil lurks in the darkness,
waiting silently for it's prey.
But it's the evil that sleep at night,
dreaming schemes for the coming day!
Copyright © Dale Totten | Year Posted 2016
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Dale Totten Poem
The only peace in life I have, is when I'm deep in sleep.
If I die before I wake, will my soul He keep.
Enjoyment now is only found in recall from a dream,
when I am not myself, and things are not the way they seem.
Where has joy gone? Is it buried somewhere in my past?
It still appears, then quickly fades, never does it ever last.
My world keeps turning a deeper, darker shade of gray.
Life eats away the one I was, erasing all my yesterday.
And where has love gone, the catalyst of my joy.
I can't remember when it died, was it back when I was just a boy?
My life is numbered with wasted time, hours, days, and years.
All my friends have run away, identity just seems to disappear.
I still keep searching inside myself, trying to find my lost soul.
To put myself back together, before I lose all control.
"Help me, someone help me",my world is being painted black.
My past is gone but I keep reaching, trying to pull it back.
People come, people go, they say "hi, you remember me".
"I'm your sister, I'm your brother", adding to my agony.
But then I see them as they were, and tears begin to flow.
Part of me has returned, I'm still a standing domino.
At times I know the road I'm on, and it shakes me to my bone.
Soon I'll be left out in the dark, not myself and all alone.
Copyright © Dale Totten | Year Posted 2017
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