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The Veteran
Dedicated to my Grandfather.
I wish I had listened more, and I miss you very much.
The years passed slowly.
I am young no more.
I see the way you look at me.
You laugh at my thin grey hair.
You shudder at my shriveled limbs.
You mock my stumbling gait.
You do not know me.
I was once young like you.
I played and laughed like you.
I have made mistakes.
Oh, I could warn you.
I could tell you to be careful.
I know about such things.
But you would not listen.
You hear only an old man’s ramblings.
I could make you laugh.
I have such stories.
But no one cares to hear them.
I could make you cry.
I have known great pain.
I was in a war.
Did you know that?
Do you care?
I see you wear a white poppy.
I hear you call yourself a pacifist.
But you know nothing of war.
You cannot understand it.
I know why we fought.
I know what we defended.
We fought for this world.
We fought for freedom.
We fought for you.
You speak of peace.
Do you think it comes freely?
There was a price.
We bought that peace.
We paid in blood.
We paid in lives.
You speak of need.
Of loss and poverty.
You do not know need.
I know it.
I was there.
I remember October, 1929.
I remember a world in despair.
I know starvation.
I know desperation.
But you pass by.
You will not listen.
You do not care.
You live in luxury.
You do not care what it cost.
You do not care for the past.
You will someday know pain.
You will someday see loss.
You will not understand them.
You did not listen.
You would not stop.
History repeats.
But you will not recognize it.
All because you saw only an old man.
You saw a bent back.
You did not see the work that bent it.
You saw limping feet.
You did not see the bomb that broke them.
You saw a wrinkled brow.
You did not see the fear that furrowed it.
You saw my hoary head.
You did not see the wisdom of my years.
(2013)
