Facts About Vietnam and Agent Orange - My Soldier Has Been Wounded

"Facts About Vietnam and Agent Orange - My Soldier Has Been Wounded"

My soldier
has been wounded
in his soul
and his heart
and he's come
to some conclusions
alone
in the dark.

I check on him
at midnight
and then again
in the morn
and although I sleep
beside him
in his pain
he is alone.

~ And it feels like a long way home
a long way from that war
yet as I look around me now
fighting again
I've seen this man made war
before.

Tainted
is a soldier
sent to
foreign lands
neglected by a country
he's asked to
to stand
forever stand grand.

~ And it feels like a long way home
a long way from that war
yet as I look around me now
fighting again
I've seen this man made war
before.

Don't tell him
you understand
He's heard
those words
before
when all is said
and done
every soldier
dies alone
from war.

Our memory
a story
a love song
pure and free
and
in our alone hours
those memories
though sacred
seemed to
freeze.

~ And it feels like a long way home
a long way from that war
yet as I look around me now
fighting again
I've seen this man made war
before.

I see it all
around him
the color
Agent Orange
and in a plea
for mercy
his candle
that I cradle
is softer
in this song

My soldier
feels forgotten
by a country
not looking back
a new war
has been started
no lessons
from soldiers
lost
between the cracks.

~ And it feels like a long way home.

03 September 2008
by Kathy Ostman-Magnusen

The image is a detail of my painting "Denny" it is a 30x40 oil on canvas that was received a Juror's Choice Award at East Hawaii Cultural 2004

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