Vet Poem by Doug Lane

Our one hold on him
was the love we gave him
long ago.

Then the bill came due
and away he went
to war

to defend
how we are bent.
He came back

with the wrong news
about where he'd been
and Father thrashed him

in the driveway
to establish
What is True.

He might as well
not have made it back.
We have no use

for him now.
He doesn't fit
the picture

we've built.
Do I miss him?
More than I dare say.

Nor do I
any longer
love my spouse.

These are the sacrifices
a mother must make
for her son, her nation.