A VET'S WIFE
By Thomas Emanuel, Jr., Army
Writing Type: Poem
A vet's wife is a woman
Who deserves much respect.
For the sake of her loved ones,
Her dreams she neglects.
The Lord blessed me with one,
A companion and a friend,
Someone to be part of
Until life comes to an end.
But never did 1 realize,
The true gift God gave
As she bore the pain
of having my children,
With courage, oh, how brave.
For the birth from her body,
So fragile within,
Could have cost her life,
For the new life to begin.
It becomes clear to my eyes,
And apparently it's true
She didn't fight in Vietnam,
But she's a casualty, too.
Although 1 came home,
From the war in the end,
She still lost a husband,
A lover, and a friend.
She watched in confusion
For many a day,
The death of a whole man,
Painfully fading away.
Although he's alive,
Or so it may seem,
The return of her real man
Is only a dream.
He suffers with emotions
She doesn't understand.
She is baffled and bewildered
By her shell of a man.
He cries in the nighttime
And screams during the day.
The family tries to help him,
And he turns them away.
The booze, drugs, and anger
Come first in his life,
Then come his children,
And maybe his wife.
He denies having problerns,
But she knows that's not true.
She really, truly loves him.
But what can she do?
She prays to God to help her,
And her husband, in pain,
"Since his return from the war,
He isn't the same.
He loves us, we need him,
He is part of my life.
I feel so guilty,
God help me, the wife.
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