Three poems, from the heart

"If I could I would ..."
"PTSD"
"The Quiet warrior"

by: Kim Bayes
Copyright © 2004

Hi Don,

I have been reading the stories on the War Stories website and they are absolutely amazing.  I've enjoyed your writings, especially your poem "Forget Me Not." I'm not sure if you know but I am the daughter of a Vietnam veteran (My dad was an Army helicopter pilot for most of his career) and I am also a clinical social worker.  I have a passion for helping Vietnam veterans and their families, both formally and informally. I am also a closet poet! I have written several poems, one about Vietnam veterans and two that I wrote for a dear friend who suffers from PTSD. I would like to share them, if you feel they are worthy and appropriate to the site.  I think writing is therapeutic and perhaps if just one person feels good after reading them, I would feel like I helped communicate that other people really do care.

Best regards,

Kim Bayes,
The Reunion Brat (Associations' Reunion Organizers)

If I could I would ...

by: Kim Bayes
Copyright © 2004

When you are hurting, I am hurting too,
And if I could I would, make it go away,
I would stand guard at your mind,
To keep those vexing demons at bay.

I would exorcise your pain and fear,
Guide you from the tunnel to the light,
And massage your aching spirit,
Until you begin to feel all right.

I would starve the things that haunt you,
Until they withered up and died,
I would feed the best within you,
So vigor would prevail and torment would subside.

If I could I would hold you ever tightly,
Waiting for your surrender to the calm,
Redirecting thoughts to healing love,
Obliterating the power of your Vietnam.

Recognizing where it comes from,
Is half the battle won,
With certainty it won’t kill you,
So remember your rising sun.

PTSD
by: Kim Bayes
Copyright © 2004

I imagined the horror, he felt in his mind,
But just couldn’t grasp, the hurt to mankind,
I shuddered for him, with anguish and fright,
Thankful he lived, to see the daylight.

The black of night where much was unseen,
So much expected from, the boy of nineteen.
He completes his duties and battles the fear,
He’s become a man who can persevere.

New found meaning to the rising sun,
Body intact but the mind was undone.
Every day it made its’ presence known,
Until the mind made the body it’s own.

Memories bring forth, a racing heart,
The nagging fears that will not depart.
Dreams that invade, in the still of the night,
In darkness there’s pain, no beacons of light.

But strength has a way of rearing its head,
Reminding the soul that all is not dead.
It thrusts him forward and lifts him up,
To drink once again from life’s, loving cup.

The Quiet warrior
by: Kim Bayes
Copyright © 2004

The quiet warrior deflects the praise,
He rejects the notion, of heroic ways.
The evidence stands, despite protest,
Here is one who gave his best.

The Brothers on the Wall of black,
O Sorrow that they’ll not be back.
This mystic place, this solemn thing,
Will always hold its’ painful sting.

As you live, honor those passed on,
Your legacy is the inseparable bond.
Let go of guilt and refuse the pain,
Your bravery and sacrifice were not in vain.

Let the healing start, let all be warned,
Never again, let a veteran be scorned.
Teach our youth, what the fighting was for,
Nurture respect, for the patriots of that war.