The Fourth Tour

He’s not dead, he’s only sleeping

eight year old Adam said

at the viewing

His mother Sandra just half smiled

as Adam walked away

She can still hear the boom in the basement

only to find her husband dead

shooting himself in his heart

It was going to be his fourth

deployment, this time to Afghanistan

she had noticed the fear and silence

this time around but just gave him

his space to figure it out

Now she felt guilty, enough for herself

and the kids, it was not maybe, it was

not should have, she told herself as she stood

by the viewing, he’s not dead he’s only sleeping

rang through her head, she could have, she

should have, but she didn’t, as she looked

at the miserable bastard lying there all innocent

and the torture that he caused

Written by Dennis Serdel, Vietnam 1967-68 (one tour) Light Infantry, Americal Div. 11th Brigade, purple heart, Veterans For Peace 50 Michigan, Vietnam Veterans Against The War, United Auto Workers GM Retiree, in Perry, Michigan.