What did you do in the war daddy?
Where did you fight, and who did you ****?
Were you a goody, or were you a baddy?
Did you join up against your will?

Or did you join to fight for pleasure,
to get a licence to take any life?
Was the body count how you would measure,
your success in the merciless strife?

Yes were you one who thought it such fun,
to shoot other human beings dead?
Did the power trip of carrying a gun,
drive all sense and reason from your head?

Perhaps the training you were given,
changed every point of view you held before.
Yes, all humanity from within you, driven,
to turn you into a dog of war.

And now you're home with your war ended,
will you settle into family life once more?
With all your nightmares and reality blended,
what does our future have in store?

Tom Higgins