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It was torn and slightly tattered
storms and wind had battered
The symbol....
The tree was strong and silent
As the winds tore through real violent
At the symbol.....

Look around you'll see it
There are many there to see
A simple yellow ribbon
Tied tight right around a tree
They're there for every soldier
Who is fighting to be free
They are waiting for their safe return
They are there for you and me

That yellow ribbon hangs on tough
To the tree bark that is worn and rough
A symbol...
On the day that they come home
Show them they were not alone
Show the symbol...

It's a simple ribbon on a tree
That shows them that we care
A yellow ribbon, nothing more
We're proud that they are there
When our soldiers come on home
I think that it would just be fair
To let them cut it down
And give them a ribbon they can wear
....a symbol
WARNER BAXTER May 2015
T our of duty, loud and proud defenders of freedom
H onor, honesty and a humble heart
E xtraordinary courage and valor

F aithful fearless focused force
E nduring engaging enforcing and eradicating
W atchful willful worthy warriors

T rue blue to the red white and blue
H eadlong headstrong head on
E liminating evil men everywhere on earth

P rotectors of life and liberty
R esolute to the greater good
O utwit outlast out fight out of control outlaws
U nafraid against any challenge or challenger
D uty of service dedicated to serve

T hank you to all that have served and are serving
H eroes you are, YES YOU ARE
E ach and every one

M en and women paying the price for us all
A llegiance to The United States Of America
R eliant to their brothers and sisters in arms
I nducted inseparable irrefutable and intrepid
N ever for money or glory always for God & country
E xemplary moral fiber and pride in the Corp
S emper fi





GODSPEED TO YOU ALL
Fortis, paratus et fidelis
Semper vigilo
Nathan Pival May 2015
Nine months of wanting to be somewhere else
A quest and yearning for home
A countdown of days
Waiting and waiting
Surviving and avoiding death
Every day that passes
A little bit closer to home
Knowing my son is growing in my absence
Wondering if I will see him again
Will he grow up like me?
Without a dad?

Finally home
But things don't feel the same
Like looking through a stained glass window
Familiar faces
Familiar places
But distorted and untrue
Home doesn't feel like home anymore
I feel out of place
And don't know what to do

People ask me if I'm fine
But I lie through a feigned smile
I realize I can't relate to anyone anymore
And especially
That they can't relate to me at all

I am alone
Surrounded by the people that love me

People thank me for my service
But I feel guilty for surviving
When others didn't
This is about my time spent in Iraq while in the US Army and how I felt when I got back home.  I didn't even realize at the time that I had PTSD.  Time is the best medicine and things have gotten better but I haven't forgotten.
Mel Little May 2015
Your eyes like the ocean, like the waves, like the sky, like a nice blue sports car. Things that are beautiful in passing, but are dangerous up close.

Danger. Loving you was danger.

You set me on fire, burning my body, burning through my brain. Passionate fire, then hot fire, then ******* I'm actually hurt fire. I still have the scars.

What I'm left with is dark and empty, unable to love another. Whispers on wind of what we used to be, secrets. I wasn't made to be a ***** little secret. I'm not your ***** little secret.

I loved you. All consuming love. Love like only a 17 year old knows. Love like only an 18 year old can hold. Love like only a 19 year old can endure. Love like only a 20 year old can let go.

I used to be sick over it. I used to wait for it. And now I've let go of it. Rain from the gray skies that are so like your eyes in the dark. Rain washes away everything I've remembered.
Mel Little May 2015
His voice is where I find solace. With no arms to hold me I find peace in words. In "you make me happy." In "I'll be home soon."

And he will be home soon. And I am scared that the damaged parts of me will be too damaged.

I find comfort in knowing that a face I've needed to see will be within kissing distance. But will he want to kiss me? Up close and personal for the first time in months, both with fresh scars from fresh heartbreak.

He wears his scars behind a uniform, and mine are as clear as day on my face.
My heart is his if he wants it, and I am afraid that he won't. But I'm easily in love, easily ready to admit it to myself, but I won't admit it to him. There's too much damage there, too fresh of wounds to break open.

But hey, I love him. I love him. I'm not hiding behind it anymore. I'll admit it right now.
The Tinkerer May 2015
The seconds, hours
The world in a shroud.
There's no where to run
All one does is cower.

The days go by
Dead men deny
An elaborate lie,
Till the day that they die.

Hope trickles away
Just as blood,
From each corpse that lay
Red runs wild
Wild like the fires at night.

There is no solitude here,
Once, free men, now fear
When their world is run
Under The Barrel of The **Gun.
A military coup. A world in turmoil, the gun is the most vicious ruler to ever come to rise in the history of the human race.
Chloe Apr 2015
My eyes are the same color as the ocean he left me for.
I hurt.
Marie Christine Apr 2015
The water is deep and you are gone.
again. I should be used to it. I miss you most when it rains. The petrichor drowns your scent/laugh/touch/voice- the waves of missing you crush me with their weight. Sometimes, i drown. More often, i swim. rarely, i float.

"Sea to shining sea", I you, we are lonely. Never alone, they say we say, but always alone. cold nights and endless mornings. Sometimes, on calmer days i look back .
To when you were here. When we were we. I love you. To the depth of your ocean. with the weight of your ship. To wherever you are and back again. but.

You are not here. You are gone and the dark water rises to cover my mouth so you can't hear my scream. a small mercy.
The sun rises in the morning- it makes me cry.

Our stars- the same where you are as i am in our white house on our porch with my flag- are gone. It's harder to imagine you here. the sun is too bright to lend me your warmth.  And you are gone.

I eat lunch, see friends, miss you. Our house feels like my house. But a picture reminds me. It is shared by two. Sometimes.

sometimes  i can close my eyes
         and picture you here; sometimes i think of you and smile. Mostly, i wait for you. wonder about you. Rarely do i go a day without missing you, never do i go a second without thinking of you.
    
You come back to me like the waves. But you are not- The Same. I worry until you leave again. Then constantly, i worry still.

But this time when the rain falls, you drown. I don't. yet.
The waves proved too much and they knock "rap, rap,rap" on my tiny red door in the middle of the blackest night
they are sorry, they say.
so am I, I cry until i flood the earth, fills their oceans, drown my pain and their pathetic remorse, the flag they give me is soaked but it helps me stay afloat

This little white house is mine, not ours, and i can no longer swim.
Marie Christine Apr 2015
We are too happy. we were- must have been.
You are not here.You are far away and i lie alone. I wake alone.

Your letters, all i have of you- fill me with love/longing/fear. I worry for you and things you have seen. Places i won't go.

everything you don't/ can't tell me screams wordlessly in my brain. It's too loud for me to sleep. To quiet to stay awake.

i tell you only lies. pretty ones. "I love you (I do), i miss you, you'll be home soon" i want to say-
I am not okay. I miss you so much it is like the knives we got for a wedding gift, the ones you've barely used, are sticking cold and steely in my heart and i am dying,  you won't be home soon you never are. But i wish you were- i love you- i write to you- i'll wait for you.
Marie Christine Apr 2015
sea
I kiss you. Goodbye. I wait under you- watch until the plane
goes up. above my by miles, away from me my countries.

The gravel road of our driveway is cool and firm
the sand of the desert is hot and shifting and you are gone

You promise to be home soon- we both know you won't but pretend to believe this is a promise you can keep

you will not be home soon, if you come home at all
I miss you i wait for you i want you here
but you don't come, you can't
The love of my life is in the Navy
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