No Medal Of Honor For You Poem by Robin Bennett

Your letters just stopped,
the silence kills me, slowly-
like the war is killing you.
I know you have not met death,
certainly I would have sent flowers.
Either way, the tears have been
taken care of.

You vanished by way
of Amelia Earhart. She died a
legend and a presumed heroine.
You just avoid any contact that
calls for human emotions. Maybe you
are hiding in the quitness protection
program.

You are lacking in courage, highly in
need of a piece of paper from a wizard
in an Emerald City. Might as well ask
for a new heart and a brain while you
are there. Without a woman on
your journey, you are nothing more
than a bumbling fool hitchhiking on
the side of a yellow bricked road.

So I add cowards to my list of the
traits I despise in men. God was
shocked and aghast when he
saw me kneel to pray. I hope one
of your war buddies never needs you
to save a life. I've cuddled and fondled
that empty space inside of you, where
courage should live. All I felt was a
whole lot of emptiness.