This poem which is on the back cover of My Path takes my journey from arriving in Iraq to coming home, trying to understand why reintegrating into civilian life was so difficult and frustrating.
As I entered this faraway place
with my weapon in hand,
I’m ready to aim at the enemy
that will come across the land.
I feel my emotions lock down inside
like a suit of armor
to protect me from the horror.
The sorrow, pain, and death
that I will face in my time,
the military trained me
to be at my prime.
Well-trained fighting machine
I did my time
and returned to the land of the free.
Only to find out my old life would not be,
for the military did not know
how to untrain me.
Let me know what you think