Reviews of books by Olga Nunez Miret, D. G. Kaye and Linda Swain Bethea at Sally’s Cafe and Bookstore.
Day: August 17, 2018
A Friend
An oorah for our Vets
We lost a friend today.
Raised in the rough and tumble side of Philadelphia.
Rejected a football scholarship to become a Marine.
Vietnam.
Awarded a Silver Star.
A hero.
Came home broken.
Hidden wounds.
VA did not acknowledge
Years of addiction and mental anguish past
Finally fully sober
He reenter our lives.
For 20 years
A brother, a friend and a confidant.
Sober and strong.
Then the toll
The payment for bravery
Too late the VA saw their error.
It helped.
Not enough.
He lost his way in a mind ravaged by old violence, old alcohol and old drugs.
All provided by the ones that wouldn’t save him.
Nightmares were his constant companion.
Cancer came calling
He is gone.
He cannot come back
I weep for what could have been.
Oorah, my friend, Oorah.
