The Promise
By Nila Bartley, Navy
Writing Type: Poem
By Nila K. Bartley
VA Medical Center—Chillicothe, OH
Once I was in a sea of sorrow.
For me, I thought there would be no tomorrow.
Drowning, I was caught in a huge wave.
Your kindness was there to save.
No longer did I think of suicide.
With the life raft you gave me, on life's waters
I glide.
I am now free,
To hope, to dream, just to be.
A future I look forward to since I have been freed,
And you are the ones that planted the seed.
I now have the promise of what life may hold
And look forward to, even when the voices
in my head scold.
The delusion was in control,
But the freedom I feel now goes down to my soul.
I have all this and more because you cared
How a fellow human being you didn't even know
fared.
I have reached life's watery bank,
And I have all of you to thank.
But saying thank you does not address
How to express--
Putting me back on the right track,
The gift of giving me my life back.
I owe a debt I can never repay,
Not now or any other day.
Because of you, I am on the mend.
I can only try and repay you by being
your friend.
