soldier blue

if I could walk back out on that battlefield
with you
would I see what made you bruised,broken
soldier blue
you came home sad and oh so proud
the walls went up, the silence came down
displaced, forgotten that honor knew your name
at home no longer in this world
you would never be the same
river restless,searching, on the move
moonlight and midnight music consoled you
I loved you, too young to tell you
soldier blue...
guarded heart of a patriot
no stranger to that foreign soil
heavy, heavy load of an imperfect, warring world
forgiveness wouldn't make you whole
left your youth on that battlefield
sacrifice haunted your hazel eyes
while stories of glory and ugly unholy
were still living inside
but you followed through
soul bruised, dirty and lonely
soldier blue

Wrote this while thinking about my father who was a World War Two veteran. I did not have my father with me for long. I was not quite seven when he was taken due to a car accident. I know the effects of a young man being in a war far from home missing family and friends coupled with all the drama of a battlefield lasts for a lifetime. I was young but I saw the brooding, the restlessness, the sad ,the aching melancholy my father dealt with.And it brought to light the dark within him and challenged us as a family.Those who serve in military give and lose more than we know, more than they say.