Nightmares In The Day Poem by Edwina Reizer

He kept hearing noises
even though they weren't there.
He kept seeing flashes
going off in the air.
He saw them and heard them.
They never seemed to stop.
They made his body shake
from the bottom to the top.
And when it reached the top
he felt a throbbing pain.
He drank. He took pills
but still it did remain.

How long had it been
since he'd been outside?
How long had it been
since his buddies all died?
He could not remember
and what difference would it make?
Every time he saw the scene,
again he'd start to shake.
They told him he was a survivor,
the only one to live.
The blast had killed the rest of them.
If only he could give
his life, his mind another try.
He'd make sure the deadly bombs
would have him die.

For he was a goner in this insane world.
He was in a living nightmare
when he saw the flag unfurled.
Would he make it back
from this nightmarish scene?
Or would his mind reject all normalcy
and what would it mean?
That some have to die in a world gone mad
while others like he made it out of Baghdad?
It must mean that he's living in hell.