THERE ONCE WAS A TIME

There once was a time,....
I carried my home on my back.
A grimey bedroll tied up like a pack.
My shoes were holed,... my pants were torn,
My beard was scraggley,....my hair unshorn.
I tried to forget all the things in my mind,...
Just tried to remember a much better time.
It seemed I had wandered hither and yon,
Trying to make the memories forever be gone.
The pain and the anguish ate at me each day,
As I wished I could make it all go away....If I could find me a hole
And pull the lid in, ...Nobody would know just what I had been.
They wouldn’t know that in battle I killed,
Nor would they know that in killing I wept..... They wouldn’t know
All the blood and gore I had seen..... The smell, the sounds, the pain and the screams......  All of these things still haunting my dreams.
These are the things I carried on my back
Along with my dirty,..filthy,..old pack.
Once a warrior,...... now.... just an old man....
Wondering how can WAR,... be part of ANY GREAT PLAN?
Remember, FREEDOM ISN'T FREE, everybody pays.