Bless Them All Poem by James Casey

Bless Them All

You don't often see them, cannot feel them
But their lives are risked and lost again and again
To serve this great country, our land, and you
Day upon day, year after year they serve and protect too
They're human, they feel, have thoughts just like you and me
Although their eyes are steel and they keep in all they see
Sometimes at the brink of breaking many come back to their place of rest
Think of all those back home who love them, this keeps them abreast
Writing words of love and all the inhuman words of pain and aching
So many I Miss You's. I Love You's, I Want You's
I Need You's that flow from their hearts it's true
Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, lovers friends

These are the soldiers we have across the ocean
In one blast, some will withdraw others will be taken
So much pain and confusion because of so many gone
Where is the buddy that was beside me all night long
He is dead, tired of living with all this strife
I can not cry so I shake, for those that died
Self control is near lost and boiling inside.
Questions are asked ' Why? , Why? , I decried
Why did so many of our best have to die?
Why did this have to happen? I ask with a sigh

I am so close to going home to my wife, my family.
I sit here by a hospital bed, a body all broken and bloody
All I can do is stare at the wall as the clock ticks.
Hoping I can just go home and face all the cynics
It continuously flashes in my mind, yet it's behind me.
That I cant shut off lying, like a rock, deep in my belly
Those that died will be honored on a wall
Those that survived will have to deal with it all
With life's expectations up ahead
Why did I survive and am not dead?
Remember those that lost and risked their lives
Freedom reigns while many will continue to rely

Jim 1971