- It Never Stops -

The war ends, but the nightmares never stop

Home from war I got a medal

They said I am a hero

In my mind there is a devil

The horrors of ground zero

.

Bombs turned corn fields into craters

Shrapnel ripped the skin from bones

If I run I am a traitor

There were six now I'm alone

.

Pain in my body

Pain in my mind

.

It Never Stops

.

I'm walking to the grocery store

To get food and things I need

I see things I'm not looking for

Soldiers dying as they bleed

.

Small children on their way to school

Were caught up in the horror

They used me as a killing tool

Now I question just what for

.

Tormented body

Tormented mind

.

It Never Stops

.

I cry myself to sleep at night

Tears fall when I start to dream

The echoes of the last gun fight

I awaken to my screams

.

The bombs go off inside my head

The machine guns rapid fire

Friends and enemies they're all dead

Of this dreaded life I tire

.

Losing my body

Losing my mind

.

It Never Stops

.

.

brian crandall  01/27/2015

.

Author's Note

A friend who had a friend who survived Prisoner of War camps in Vietnam asked me, "Can I ask a favor? It's a poem called It Never Stops. It hasn't been written yet. The favor is that you write it. It's of the pain of soldiers who live and know that their nightmares never end."

Reviews

[Tomás Ó C..]

Its such a part of society it will take a culture change to rid us of the horrors of war. Its worse now than in olden days where the warrior society kept it fierce but small. Now its industrial. Or was PTSD just ignored in olden times?

[Colorado Brian]

I've talked to some WWII vets who said their entire lives were consumed with nightmares of the horrors of war they experienced. Society demanded they not 'complain about their feelings', so they kept it bottled up and it ruined them, it gave them no chance to heal

[Chris]

Semper Fi Brian... you aren't ever alone so catch a breath and live beyond the memories.

[Colorado Brian]

Chris, I actually never served. A friend of mine asked me to write this, and i was Really Hesitant to do it, since I did not serve. But I did the best I could to capture the situation, as he described it to me. Thank You.

[Chris]

then you now know what to tell him... some can't express what they bring back... you helped.