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Restive Reminiscence

Strolling the parched path of life,
Easily tracked by the clouds of dust.
Clouds of dust? Clouded! A clouded life of distrust.

Resting, if you may call it so,
By a pool of sin and cess.
Pool of sin? Drowning!
Unable to swim, no less.

Fleeting thought like many flies
Lighting on my stinking soul.
Fleeting thoughts? Lost!
O, that I could shew the whole.

Remembering against my will
Life’s antebellum bliss.
Days of bliss? Blistered!
Who could know wars like this?

Recounting life’s woeful tale;
Etched on a wounded heart.
Bleeding heart? Dying!
Will an end follow the start?

—Sgt. Trent Schmidt
Logar Province, Afghanistan,
Combat Outpost Charkh, 173rd Airborne, 2011

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March 2023