Penny Rock

BEFORE THE WAR

I wonder what’s the matter with him.
He’s not the way he was before.
He’s not the way he used to be.
The way he was before the war.

He had no way of knowing
What horrors were in store.
Then communication ceased
When he went off to war.

He left while only in his teens.
Now he’s so much older.
The warmth of his youth is gone.
His spirit’s so much colder.

His eyes look deeply haunted.
He has no joy anymore.
He doesn’t laugh and rarely smiles.
He stares down at the floor.

He speaks in cryptic code.
He talks of blood and gore;
Then lapses into silence
Since he came back from war.

I wonder what he saw there
That fills his eyes with fright.
All those unknown terrors
Keep him awake at night.