Transitions

We, the ghosts of your past,
speak to you from our pain,
are infected by the horror of war.
You return, riding the high of survival,
men and women of courage, returning
to families, country and old lives.

The life you left is not the life
you bring home. Now a war machine,
feelings are tamped down into forgetfulness,
body programmed to survive and forget.
Forget? It may rise to haunt you,
reach insidious fingers into your lives
and the ones you love.

We know - have tainted our families,
lost some of our humanity,
the part that feels, acknowledges,
and can put it aside.

We've taught you as family and government
to suck it up, and we've done this
for years - become emotional
cripples. Through counseling, we've
learned to express fear, anger and pain,
seen a glimmer of the light of healing.

Don't suck it up, share with your family,
break the chain of pain for yourselves,
wives and children. Believe me,
they are suffering too, not aware
of the reasons for your bitterness.

You've learned how to survive war,
now, your personal war is beginning.
We challenge you to fight this war
as courageously as the one
you fought on the battlefield.
Get help - share - weep - and heal.