The book, Lost Survivor, by Thomas R. Jones, Sr., is a magnificent story of survival in the midst of the Vietnam War.  Well written and insightful, it is a book that will help you understand what happened then…and what is happening today in Iraq.  War is never what anyone expects – whether you are here at home waiting for the return of loved ones, or the body in the middle of the conflict (what a light word for killing and being killed!), or whether you are the politician wondering if your future depends on the next vote you cast for or against it.  The following poem was written after I read the book.  I have often heard it said that one of the best compliments one artist can give another is to find inspiration in their work; something that moves you to create your own piece of art as a reflection.  That is what happened here.  I hope you enjoy the poem and will go out to buy the book.  It is a piece of history we should all read about.

To Survive in Your World

Color drains from dreams, disappears, grey scale

shadows mix, remind me of life before

this place when the tick-tock click of momma’s

clock soothed me to sleep between whispers sweet

from my lover’s lips, and the world was real.

Violent scars on the edge of fantasy

askew from your memories of me, and you

cannot enter the world I’ve lived-would not

want the me I became-I cannot be

the one you loved, that’s once upon a time

when I wasn’t lost, before life became

kill or be killed-a place I could not see

color outside yellow fear-jungle green.

I lost myself to survive in your world.

Siobhan

10/25/05