The War That Never Ended

The children were told not to stare
Or ask any questions about the war
At night, when he retreated to his bed
They were told to walk on tip toe
Or stay outside lest the thunder
Of their footsteps remind him
Of the gunfire and tanks in the trenches
Or the explosion of shrapnel
That hit him in the face
Leaving him hideous.

Dark in the night
When the children forgot
And made a noise
He’d wake screaming
In the relived pain
That was forever with him.

They called it shell shock
The way he’d change without warning
Turn a complete circle from a kind
Loving man to an angry ghost
And scare them with his shouting.

Haunted
For him the war never ended.