I watched her as she watched him;

as his mind slowly drifted away,

It started after the first of three hitches in Nam;

he began to live in the mental shadows of gray.

Her little brother was no longer young;

he had aged way beyond his years,

Even his dreams were gone from vision;

which basically left nothing but hollow tears.

There were no smiles, only deepened crevices of pain;

and ghosts that lived behind his pale blue eyes,

They called his name, and haunted his thoughts;

and made him believe he would have been better off to die.

And she wept as though only she understood;

as though she was the only one who could see,

The decaying process that had swallowed him up;

then she would beg, Please Lord, please give him back to me.

And I watched her as she watched him;

go through years of agony and grief,

Over time the ghosts faded into the past;

but never on this earth did he find complete relief.

So when the call came through that God had taken him home;

I watched her as she bid him farewell,

For she knew inside his heart was pure;

and he was finally safe from Viet Nam's hell.

And again I watched her as she drifted away;

to at last be by his side,

Where she could reclaim her lost little brother;

in the Heavens where they both reside.

by

© Lisa Hilbers

(used with permission)

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