Treatment

A patients view on the government ran facility.

The overwhelming itch is back

I tried to let it subside

But he made sure that I stayed on track

Never would I be alone

I won’t be able to stand without his hollow help

I met him when I was twelve

I never would have thought 

I would be another notch on his belt

He was so friendly and soothed my pain

Twelve years later I find myself on the fourth floor

The floor where they keep the insane

This is designated as treatment

But I never understood

I see men in there fifties broken down but still proud

They were called for an unjust cause

When it was over, the overseers moved on

They told them to do the same

But when you bring back with you such a beast

There is no walking away, no good times at the beach

You can’t just pack it away in the attic

It must be destroyed, but no one knows

The consequences of there choices

Have filtered through many generations

Now we are at a point where

It’s not a good dinner conversation topic

So we drop it

Leave them in the mist

Pay off a couple so there is no riot

But in truth, they got off easy

Those men are now reduced to a VA diet

The distance in our years is clear

I am supposed to be in my prime

They are simply winding down, they already had their time

The connection is evident, the beast travels

Whether it be in the jungles of Vietnam

Or the once prosperous land of Saddam,

Doesn’t matter, once he gets a sniff

Nothing else matters, he will be friendly at first

He will flirt, he will even praise and adore you

Whatever it takes, but once he’s got you

The mask comes off

He will expose his true self to you

By then, it too late he’s got you

Then he backs away

Until that long awaited day

It’s Hell and he waiting by the gate

You realize addiction is the devil

Just disguised a little

Author's Note

A view from the Veterans Hospital in Decatur, Ga.