Misfire: A Vet's Lament

by HarryT

Free-style poem: human suffering Contest Winner

Gun to my head
Pulled the trigger
Misfire

Failure
With old friends
Misfire

Pills don’t work
Therapy’s a joke
More misfires

No one comes to visit
They say I’m crazy
“Oh, he went to war”

What’s wrong?
Can’t talk, can’t listen,
Explosions in my head

Bullets rake
Nighttime shakes
Mind confusion

What’s wrong?
I need another song
No one can help

In Afghanistan
Restless hours awake
At home no escape

Wife’s cheatin with a
friend who used to be...
the life I had is gone

I ain’t no longer me
Angry, out of control
“Damage vet” they say

I can’t get rid of faces of
Fated buddies who’ll
Never come home

Shadows of men I killed
Husbands, fathers, brothers
Marching through my head

If I was wasted over there
Honor and a 21 gun salute
Would have been mine

This time
Gun cleaned
No misfire

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Writing Prompt
The topic for this contest is: Human suffering.