When I first came here, many years ago.
The words flowed freely, my feelings you would know.
I made many friends, and I felt like I was home.
But then there was some drama, and I began to roam.

Not long after that, my dear friend Patty died.
He was a poet here, and I ran away to hide.
So now its been some time, and I have again returned.
And in my travels since, I'll tell you what I've learned.

As long as I sit behind this computer, and type on these black keys.
I'm missing all that does exist, and I'm wondering who I should please.
In one hand I have an online life, with "friends" I do not know.
And in the other hand, I have myself, and the life I wish would flow.

I left the computer to live my life, I hope you understand.
And I found some happiness, and hope, that was not planned.
Get away from this world my friends, it feeds the dark inside.
Find yourself, and love yourself, so you never need to hide.

You should get an Abortion.

It's for the best.

Your life is a wreck,
and you shouldn't want to
invite a child into your mess.
You're eighteen and homeless.
That's too young
to deal with all of this.
You can barely keep a hold
of yourself,
A kid would just make it worse.
It's time to just accept that.*

Those words were once meant for you, mom.
But, for some reason
you didn't listen.
You ignored their logic
and chose to battle through the pain.

You didn't give up.  
You fought on.
Got a car, a job, an apartment,
and a way out
of all the things that controlled you.

You didn't give up.
You knew you could be a better person,
and a worthy parent.
Because instead of being
constrained to your past
You used each mistake as a lesson
that slowly started to give you strentgh.

You didn't give up.
You believed in yourself
When no one else did,
and formed your own
path which,
inch by inch,
lead you farther from your fears
and closer to that moment
when you were able to sit
in the auditorium
and watch me graduate with the words
Thank you Jesus
ringing in the back of your head.
(I know they were)

You never gave up,
and look at us now, mom.
Look where we are.
It's a miracle.
We conquered all the odds
and ignored the logic.

Because you never gave up.

I want to be like you.
To face my trials
without any fear.
And when they tell me
to just give up.
To accept defeat.

I won't.

Because you didn't.

Some wore a uniform of gray
Some wore the one of blue
They were brothers from north and south
Some were sons and fathers too,

Each one was a soldier
A warrior in a fight
Now they are only ghost
Seen by men with sight,

Once their feet did march
Upon the battlefields grass
Now they are just an image
To be seen within the glass,

Many fell upon the field of battle
Some alone in a place so foreign
Now all that remains of them
Is a face on a sheet of iron,

When I look into the eyes on the faces
Of these men on iron or glass
I see not a ghost
But a man, a soldier from the past,

Though now he be only an image
He was once a soldier that in battle fell
And within each soldiers image
Is held a story he longs to tell.

RLB