Veterans Who Have Fought Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

Amusing entertainments are slowly being removed...
From decades of increased addictions 'given' to them.
Those who sit to munch in comfort on popcorn.
Leaving too many overdosed as if under hypnosis,
To find themselves 'suddenly' awakened...
And confronted by shock and disbelief to perceive,
Are those who have enjoyed their entitlements protected,
By veterans who have fought to keep many fantasized...
Although left they have been,
To live lives of their own to condone abuse of all kinds.

Disrespected, left homeless and treated like derelicts...
On urban streets where they are 'forced' to sleep,
With no one caring about their wants and urgent needs.
OR treated like civilized human beings conscious of passion.
And...
Deserving of praise and the best of life they have EARNED.
Just to keep those selfishly feeding their greeding on a feast,
Without sacrificing a drop of 'their' own blood left to bleed...
On foreign shores to return to a 'homeland' to be ignored!
But complaints...
Childish and petty they have a plenty!

And yet...
Kept are expectations to regard themselves as 'great',
Has left a bitter taste in the mouths of those...
Who have been shown the 'gutter' as an appreciation.
Those who are veterans who have given lives and died,
To be treated like pests and other unwanted insects...
With nothing to get but an obvious neglect,
By those who have eyes focused and kept on selfishness to feed.

'I 'sense' you are still left bitter.'

No.
Just expressing from an experience.
To witness and not perceive or from deluded beliefs.
My comments and concerns have long gone ignored.
You see...
My duty to do was in the Viet Nam era.
And I am accustomed to expect disrespect to accept the negligence!



Note:
'As a veteran who had enlisted with a desire to protect,
A land that has shown my 'brothers and sisters'...
Decades of disrespect is not 'our' disgrace to witness.
Or bare on our shoulders a neglect of an appreciation,
To show to many of us in a manner to regard as appropriate.'