The rainy season was the worst.
It rained,
and rained,
and rained.
It never let up.
We worked through it,
ran through it,
marched through it,
and even swam through it.
Then once it stopped,
the sun came up and dried everything up.
Then it was back to normal,
the old timers said.
Although four months of rain was all I’d really seen.
When the rainy season went
and the hot wet tropical weather came back
it was beautiful.
I’d never seen so many shades of green in all my life.
It was a beautiful sight.
Its funny how you can remember
all those things from so long ago
and far away,
but other things are like burns in your mind,
and the rest are those memories
you can’t seem to shake out of your head,
even though you wish you could,
they’re like yesterday to me.
All my life I’d never had such dear friends
than those that I’d met on my tour.
I see them all everyday like they came back from yesterday.
Yesterday was a sad day.
I’d never seen so much blood in all my life.
It was a very hard day,
that yesterday was.
We came out of that oh so green jungle
God the shades I’d seen
Shades of red that day.
We’d come up onto this pretty little road,
and everyone no matter how cruel or harsh
saw the beauty that day.
Just like a bolt of lightning
screaming across the midnight black sky,
it was gone.
I see it everyday
but it’s quite distanced in my mind.
It happened so quick,
such a cruel trick to play
on that most beautiful day.
Like thunder heard
from atop a tall mountain
the shells went off scattering us,
far apart.
Like the hard driven rain the bullets hailed.
Dank red blood.
I’ve seen a lot in my lifetime
I’ve drank from that crystal lake in the mountain
I’ve ran in a decanting sunrise
Sailed my boat through a hurricane
Yeah, I’ve seen a lot
Done a lot.
I saw men die
I’ve seen life begin
Its a hand life I’ve lived
A friend died by a lake in the mountain
He died in my arms
The blood covered him like a mask
Hiding the friend I once loved
Life’s cruel
There’s war
There’s death
God gives us life and takes it away only to make us kings after the tribulation
I remember a guard friend
as I stare a glance through the air.
Memories came back from long ago...
So far away...
They are like yesterday....
Like a scared child I look away.
Pray, pray, pray for God to take me away.
Its a whole other country you know.
I’ve seen it, felt it, heard it.
I see it everyday.
So green and beautiful.
Green to hide the blood.
I feel the blood running down my face from the scars.
Scars of the save.
-
I’m going to the desert soon.
It will be so nice.
So hot, so dry,
I will almost fry,
and when death winks at me,
I will die,
in the desert my spirt will fly,
my body will sigh,
a sigh of relief,
open the pearly white gates,
Im coming home.
Lord save me.
My mom went to art school, and so I've always had art sketch pads floating around my house, barely written in. I finally filled my own, and was on the pursuit of another one, because i had an idea for a drawing.. I came across a pad (only 1/4 filled, with a few loose letters an envelopes inside), after reading through it I found these written in. My dad was only deployed for a year/or less and sent home due to severe PTSD and back pain.
Reading this especially upsets me because there are so many things about our parents we don't know. I've never considered my dad as artistic, or full of feelings, articulations like this..