Neopoet

Join the Neopoet online poetry workshop and community to improve as a writer, meet fellow poets, and showcase your work. Sign up, submit your poetry, and get started.

S
scribbler
May 31, 2021 ⭐ View statistics (Premium feature)

INVISIBLE SCARS

Over there I have done terrible things
that keep sleep from my night,
things that you would curse me for
and ban me from your sight.

Over there my blood lust took control,
an inner Grendel showed its face
and I became less than human
deserving no one's grace.

Over there I wrought murder and mayhem
screaming out a primal rage
among body parts strewn haphazardly
as jumbled words on Satan's page.

I look into a mirror over here
but still see what I had become
by waging war while over there.
What I saw and did still leaves me numb.

Better the carnage over there;
better I were a monster over there
than have to be one over here.
Too many times I start awake
drenched in cold sweat
thinking I am still
over there

About This Poem

Last Few Words: Once a year on this day we pause to remember those who died to give us freedom......perhaps we should also remember those who returned but still aren't the same as when they left.

Style/Type: Free verse

Review Request Intensity: I want the raw truth, feel free to knock me on my back

Editing Stage: Editing - rough draft

About the Author

Region, Country: South Carolina, United States, USA

Favorite Poets: Frost, Burns, Longfellow, Poe, and Johnson. I guess you've noticed these are all past masters. Other than folks on site I don't read any contemporary poets .

This user supports Neopoet so it can be free to all

More from this author

Comments

Roscoe Lane

Roscoe Lane

4 years 1 month ago

I wonder,

I wonder how many have the same feelings, but can't put them into words as good as you. If only this poem could be more widespread, i believe it would help a lot of people, Regards Roscoe...

Gracy

Gracy

4 years 1 month ago

A sad but much needed poem.

A sad but much needed poem. Are you referring to WWII? I expect so, but I lost several relatives in WWI, which was devastating, followed by the Spanish flu.
PTSD (is that correct?) is a terrible thing, it can last for decades, never go away. I hope that's not something you're suffering.
As usual, your rhyming, wording and spacing are all perfect. No nits.
"Lest we forget".
Gracy

S

scribbler

4 years 1 month ago

Hi Gracy

No, this was meant to be applicable to any war including the ones being wound down now. And I am fortunate. The year I would have been drafted to go to Vietnam they actually stopped the draft. I was classified !-H which meant I would be drafted first if it cranked back up. But I have known people who fought in WW2 and every conflict since then and think none of them returned without nightmares of what they did and/or saw done.........