A Soldier's Heart

Written In Honor of our Vietnam Veterans ..,

~ A Soldier's Heart ~
What was once warm and beating
with the flow of life's sweet blood inside,
has now become a place of carnage
where the horrors of war reside.

No one knows the isolation there
unless he's walked this road too.
No one knows the pain inside
like those forgotten soldiers do.

Expectations are almost worse today
than what they were when they came home.
There are still many a wounded soldiers
with wounded hearts who sadly roam.

Dazed, they stumble forward in life
through a terrain that none can see.
Their battle raging out of sight within
souls longing to be free.

This battle that rages on is
within their own mind and hearts,
where memories of death and carnage
torment their inward parts.

Intrusive thoughts encased within
explode like wars land mines did.
The "shooting war" that still goes on
within those broken hearts are hid.

Soldiers left to languish in death
with worn and broken shields,
forsaken warriors fighting on
within minds of private killing fields.

The pain, the anguish, the anger
sadly lingers on today,
in the hearts and minds of warriors
that are filled with wars decay.

They work it out as best they can,
for many they work it out alone.
Sometimes with hearts soft and tender,
sometimes with hearts of stone.

Until that day of their release
when their freedoms finally won,
where their last battle is finally fought,
when their life on earth is done.

The walking dead who few can see,
who fewer would care to understand,
still live today and await their death ...
their last hope for freedoms promised land!
*************
I pray for their lives,
for their broken hearts,
for their wounded souls,
for those hurting parts.
***
I pray for love,
I pray for hope,
I pray for strength,
that they may cope.
***
I pray for their souls,
I pray for their peace,
I pray for their minds,
their sweet release.
***************
I understand more today,
that which I didn't understand before,
I dared to look within the heart
beyond that secret door.

Into a hell that some must live,
where in living there is no reprieve,
until death would come and welcome them,
for a "job well done" and "in honor" be received

Wanda LaCasse