You come to me from a battlefield
where sand and wire stretch
beyond the Tigris and Milky Way’s veil.
Fall into my arms where air is sweet,
and sleep quietly through the night,
safe beside my whispering elms
where nightmares cannot hurt you.
Your blood stains my hands.
Your wounds are mine now.
Tell me, even if you think I can’t understand
because I have not walked
where your worn and dusty boots trod.
I want to know what you have seen
inside the market place of Basra
and cells of Abu Ghraib.
Show me, even if you think I won’t understand
your fractured dreams and misplaced poetry.
Maybe then we can sift through
the remnants of ballads
I didn’t know until you stumbled in
before we heard
the quickening of our breath.
You’re not separate from me anymore.
I sing dream’s flight into your heart
where childhood can still desire.
Somewhere beneath your wounds,
somewhere beneath my words,
a comet streaks across the sky
as I hold your smile in my hands.
Leilani Squire is a writer, certified creativity coach, and works with active duty, veterans and their families to help them tell their stories through the written word. She is founder and CEO of the nonprofit Returning Soldiers Speak and an associate member of EST/LA where she is also part of their playwrighting unit.
Learn more about the Veterans Repertory Theater here.