The Soldier Of Misfortune

Inspired by Anne Francis’s powerful poem, “The Blind Beggar”

I once was young, a stripling lad
I always laughed, I knew no sad
Then soon after I turned eighteen
My country called, for my demean
.
They sent me to a camp to train
Eight weeks later, one stripe I gained
Then they flew us to a battlefront
Where many boys had felt foe’s brunt
.
One day a friend stepped on a mine
The shrapnel made my eyes both blind
I woke up in a room with beds
With bandages wrapped round my head
.
They told me that my fight was done
“We’re going to send you home now son”
The VA Center in the nearest town
Taught me how to get around
.
A long straight stick to feel my way
Depression grew more every day
In the mail, a monthly check
A small stipend, my life a wreck
.
The years went by, the decades too
Almost forty, this life I rue
I sit on streets, and beg for cash
Some young punks, their tongues me lash
.
I want no more to live like this
With memories of my youthful bliss
I beg the Lord to end my plight
And bring me home, where all is right

Lawrence D. Ran 7/9/2018