I Didn’t Send Home Dead; I Sent Home Dead Heroes….. Poem by Ted Sheridan
I Didn’t Send Home Dead; I Sent Home Dead Heroes…..
The smell of death stole my morality and my innocence.
About the time I turned twenty; almost overnight
I’d forgotten how to play peaceful like….
the weapons were real.
Having been trained to kill or be killed
in fewer than three months
by our nation’s best, I had known
from the outset of the war;
I didn’t want to wind up like grandpa’s
Uncle Bob. The toothless
part with the missing teeth I could
handle but paralyzed
from the neck down and my gun shooting blanks;
there was no way
if I could help it,
that was ever going to be me.
But as sure as I’m sitting here today…..
It was always a possibility.....
and a sacrifice I was willing to make
along with my band of brothers
for a free America....
2008 © TS
The problem is the younger generation doesn't quite understand what America really means. They take freedom for granted, as if it were normal, ordinary and naturally occurring around the world. It isn't. It requires diligence and maintenance. ~ Sara
The essense of the poem is the first line: 'The smell of death stole my morality and my innocence.' In another sense it stole mortality too as the survivors were societally dead - shunned, unwanted and unloved except by their nearest and dearest. Little wonder many veterans became outcasts... But glory shines from the words: '... a sacrifice I was willing to make along with my band of brothers for a free America... ' ... Lest you forget! Rgds, Ivan
Ted I felt stark rawness with this... and a contemplation view I would never have envisaged or drawn on for myself.. aroha xx PS.. Glad you are still with 'us'
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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5/2/2024 6:50:13 PM # 1.0.0.1119
An honest feel to this one Ted, If only we could learn 'before' the act of war had ever been a question? Perhaps none would ever come to be, Take care Ted Love duncan X