
The Returning Soldier
Many a time we face the battle of life like untried soldiers. And, like untried soldiers we are never fully prepared for the sometimes-dramatic consequences of warfare. Then when we confront life’s amoral demands for conformism we become stunned like deer caught in the headlights.
But having taken institutional vows we feel we are under moral obligation to act the part to keep up appearances. Oftentimes this may come at a cost. It may come at the cost of a slow and painful death of core values, of dreams and of self.
Yes, we kill off our dreams and other aspects of self for appearances because we are mindful of the oath taken.

At times as returning and rebounding soldiers we are so broken that it is quite challenging – near impossible to make the psychosocial adjustments required. Yet we soldiers return to wherever home is, to face ridicule after having sacrificed a part of ourselves for that which was judged as valuable, or for some other – perceived greater good. So, did I.
This short exposition is hopefully a guide to the understanding of the poem “The Returning Soldier” which follows:
The Returning Soldier
Soldier, did you kill a man?
How did it feel?
Woman, did you leave your man?
How did it feel?
This woman did kill a man—
Soldier, did you kill a man?
How did it feel?
Woman, did you leave your man?
How did it feel?
This woman did kill a man—
not that man, this inner man, in partial suicides,
in sneaky, slow dyings
with the technology of sharp-shooting inner snipers
configured by the Cain of conservatism.
She was a terrorist against herself,
blowing body parts to bits,
soul and blood raining down upon a tortured landscape
to join those of Abel in post-Edenic torpor.
Be a self-preserving surgeon like this woman.
Amputate the amalgam of selves that anesthetizes
and forces you to choose another’s interest over your own.
But don’t you dare sit in your sterile towers
and politicize and sensationalize her cracks at survival.
The Returning Soldier is taken from my book Splendor from Ashes
