AGE OF A VETERAN

He's just an old vet, who sits on a bench,
At the courthouse on the square.
His hair is gray, his clothes; though clean,
Gives the feeling, there's no one to care.

Once a young man of twenty-one'
A quite handsome lad, you'd agree,
His hair was thick and his eyes so clear
And his family loved him, you see.

Throughout history, wars keep looming,
A dictator downs others for power.
The old, the oppressed, and the children,
Become hungry and mistreated by the hour.

A call to nations for help and to arms,
Go out to the young ones for war.
A need to stamp out the aggressors,
For the sick, the starving and the poor.

He was one of the first to answer,
For his country, he would offer his life.
Without someone to stop the madness,
There's no world for children or a wife.

He saw the horrors, only war could bring,
He lost close friends by his side.
Why was he spared and they were not?
What gave a bullet the right to decide?

Why did he return home a hero?
When in graves, in a foreign land,
Lay his friends who fought beside him,
What made him a special man?

For his life, there was a purpose,
A higher power stepped in.
He lived his life, the best he could,
From beginning and towards the end.

Is he the only one left who lived it?
Has it really been that long?
Does no one, today, remember -
The North Koreans and Viet Cong?

Thirty years have passed him by,
Since the signing of the peace contract.
It was then planned to look ahead,
Yet, impossible not to look back.

Now, he's an old vet who sits on a bench,
At the courthouse, on the square.
His hair is gray, his clothes; though clean,
Gives the feeling, there's no one to care.

Jay Cee ~~ ©

INDEX
Section I

"AS MY LOVE LIES SLEEPING"

"MY FRIEND 'FOOTS'"

"BLUE MORNING GLORIES"

"THE HEART AND SOUL OF MAN"

"SHADOWS OF A DAY NOW DYING"

"THREE FINE FAT LADY BUGS"

"THE OLD TIME FARMER"

"AS IT BECOMES FALL"

"THE HOME"

"THE SCHOOL MARM"

"TIME FLIES AND MUD PIES"

"AGE OF A VETERAN"

"SECRETS OF THE SEA"

"THE HOUSE"

"NIGHTS AND SUCH"

"A LOVE POEM… I AM"

"THE OLD CEMETERY"

"FREE SPIRIT"

RETURN TO HOMEPAGE

[GO TO INDEX II]

[GO TO INDEX IIi]

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First Published:  25-Aug-2007 10:07 AM   -   Last Update:   29-Mar-2013 02:23 PM
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