I walked in shadows thick and deep,
Where iron birds and thunder sweep.
With boots on ground and rifle tight,
I faced the echoes of the night.
In lands unknown, where fires rise,
Beneath strange stars and foreign skies,
We spoke in silence, moved as one,
A brotherhood forged under sun.
The weight of duty, grave and bold,
Bound us in courage, young and old.
Each footstep, more than flesh and bone,
Each mile a debt, no man alone.
I’ve held the fallen in my hands,
Watched dreams dissolve like desert sands.
Their voices haunt, a solemn song,
In quiet rooms where memories throng.
Now homeward bound, the war a ghost,
I bear the scars that linger most.
The medals glint, the salutes pass,
Yet battles live in moments cast.
In crowded streets or empty bars,
In sudden tears and hidden scars,
I wear the armor, seen and not,
A soldier’s heart that time forgot.
And though my hands no rifle clasp,
The memories hold me in their grasp.
I’ve come through darkness, far and wide,
A soldier still, though war’s tide died.
For peace is earned with silent might,
In dreams of friends lost to the night.
So here I stand, my story plain—A veteran’s strength, love, loss, and pain.
