War: A Poem

Sounds of bullets and bombs

Of curses, cries, and praises

Deafening and welcome silence

The calm before the storm

Weary soldiers see God in the details

See death and human entrails

Minds are tortured

Or worse, minds go numb

Desert fevers and desert heat

Or, biting cold and piles of snow

Give soldiers cold, sweaty nights at home

Their dreams give way to nightmarish images

The demons of the mind

The enemy within

Some say war is hell

But hell hath not held the widow's hand

Hell hath not held the fallen comrade

Hell hath not held the fatherless child

Hell hath not held the motherless child

Holding and comforting the mournful:

That job is left to the soldier

While holding his hell inside