Poetry Archive

The Veteran

He could not explain how he lived
When so many others died
After the war, he thrived
It is a miracle that he survived

Through jungles, swamps, and mountains
Through deserts and from the sea
He fought his way to Italian fountains
For the freedom of you and me

Dark memories of lost battles
Men dying in a thousand ways
He was never one to prattle
About the horrors of those days

He had malaria while snipers
Shot at him from the trees
While he walked with the vipers
The smell of tank oil in the breeze

The thud of bullets in those he downed
Did he fear he had become a beast
Machines guns on the high ground
The ghosts of the deceased

Then he met a woman frightened
Of soldiers of another land
He rescued her and was enlightened
By a greater power than he could withstand

It was her love that saved him
From the darkness that birthed the man
He emerged from shadows grim
To live for a higher plan