Dear God if you can hear me
Please look down and help that kid
No one should have a memory of
The things he said he did
Could have been the whiskey talking
The eyes made words ring true
And I just sat there listening
It was all that I could do
After graduating Yale
He decided to enlist
Then he told an awful tale
Sadder as I got the gist
At the bar now for his birthday
He's just 26 years old
Wants to be a teacher someday
I can't see him fit the mold
He talked about Fallujah
He's surprised that he survived
Nights haunted by an enigma
How he ended twenty lives
He woke up and had a speedball
Leaning hard toward the brink
Don't want to speed his freefall
I can't buy this kid a drink
A stupid smile upon that face
Drug and alcohol induced
And a dose of false bravado
Things he needs to make it through
I have a kid his age
Imagine how that it would be
To be the father of that wreckage
But for the grace of God goes me
Doesn't want thanks for the service
And it's time for me to leave
I feel him lean into my hug
With this suffering soul I grieve
So Dear God if you're listening
While I need stuff for myself
That can all take a back burner
Dear God send that kid some help
Gouda Moon
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/says-he-was-in-falluja/
