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By Ronald Nash

VA Medical Center--Cincinnati, OH

Withered dispirited warriors fade, dying.

War-torn bodies tormented, endless misery,

Incessant vexatious thoughts linger too long

Permeating senses in the hour of the mouse.

Ominous foreshadowing, toll death knell,

Linger not, take them now or set them free.

Winter closes fast, freezing brittle bone.

The end draws nigh.

Dear Lord, let them live again before they die.

Tried in battle, they are America’s patriots, all.

Writing group: Cincinnati VAMC