Billy got a gun, <br />When he turned 18 <br />Did two tours in Iraq <br />And got a purple heart for free <br />When he arrived home <br />The Mayor gave him a key <br />And said 'how proud' he was <br />'For serving God and country' <br /> <br />But Billy was an egg <br />With a brain now slightly fried <br />Watching marching bands <br />And the Batons on the lines <br />Searching for the danger <br />In the Cadillac landmines <br />The sparkles made him dread <br />All the fireworks of July <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />When Billy arrived home <br />He nodded with cheap grins <br />Said 'How nice it's to be back' <br />Among his fellow country kin <br />His sweetheart gave him kisses <br />To show how much she missed him <br />But found him slightly cold <br />And emotionally distant <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Billy stood outside <br />While everyone soirees <br />With cups of alcohol <br />To hip hop damaged muzak <br />They could not see the man <br />Returned from desert storms <br />But his mother sensed the lost <br />That her little boy was gone <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Now Billie's in the garage <br />Looking pale and rather frail <br />Because the wars now in his head <br />And the faces have him jailed <br />From the orphans to the elders <br />As they whimpered on the stone <br />Too the occupier soldiers <br />Who taught freedom comes in blood <br /> <br /> <br />Now Billy has a gun <br />Logged neatly to his temple <br />He know you can't put Band-Aid <br />To a past that's never simple <br />He cries the waste of pain <br />Staring at a family picture <br />Knowing atonement come to rest <br />When the safeties off the trigger <br /> <br />Now Billie's just another <br />Name on a war memorial<br /><br />Kevin Patrick<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/names-on-war-memorials/
