Thank You is Never Enough..excerpt from 'Written in Blood'

A Thank You Is Never Enough

For Standing proud day or night

For wearing the Uniform that some may hate

For sacrificing friends and family

A Thank You is Never Enough

 

For cold lonely nights in far away lands

For having MREs instead of a home cooked meal

For early morning PT in sub zero temperatures

A Thank You is Never Enough

 For staring down the barrel of a gun

For facing your own mortality day after day

For countless nightmares that haunt

A Thank You is Never Enough

For coming home battered or bruised

For not coming home at all

For finding peace within the loud silence

A Thank You is Never Enough

For yearly holidays taken for granted

For parades and ceremonies and medals adorned

For being a SOLDIER

A Thank You is Never Enough

Background

Sept 11 2001

After watching the live footage courtesy of **CNN**, my whole life took a spiraling plunge into despair, depression, anger, paranoia and fear.

I spent many nights awake, crying and waiting to see what was coming next.

I had always been a writer and found solace and comfort in putting pen to paper. I spent six hours along a beachfront putting my thoughts on paper. As I started reviewing what I had written down, I noticed a distinct pattern. They all focussed on pain, anger, terror and how much I loved the Military. It was from that moment, that 'Written in Blood' was born.

4 years of writing, editing, travelling to Washington DC, visiting memorials, talking to Veterans and currently serving Military personnell turned into the passion of my life.

Being a cathartic release for me, I continued onward and am currently working on the follow up book 'Through the Eyes of A Veteran'.  I'm hoping to s have a working copy by year's end and start editing soon thereafter. In that time, I'm hoping to find a willing publisher to get this out in hopes of helping others out there.

Loss hits everyone, especially for Military families. This is my way of giving back.

Written in Blood..excerpt from `Written in Blood`

Written in Blood


Standing at the gates of death
Awaiting my turn for judgment
The book filled with thousands of pages
A few names engraved crimson red
                                              
I asked around and wondered why
Some names had no coloring
The gatekeeper pondered on how to answer
What you do is how you are engraved

Still in uniform with the lethal wound
Looking down on my friends and family
I snuck a peek and saw my name
Etched in red so everyone could read
Tears well up within my eyes
As the explanation began
You see you were killed in action
Your name is Written in Blood

You have a special place within the gates
A brotherhood of perfect strangers
Brought together in life and death
Welcome Home Solider you are loved

NO MORE TERROR HERE

No more terror here

Scary stories being told at midnight

Waves crashing into the sandy beaches

Marshmallows roasting over the smoldering flames

Oblivious to impending doom

Lives changed in an instant

Shattered dreams scattered through twisted metal

A vicious attack on a way of life

Tears flowing from lady liberty

Call to arms to protect our land

Seeking an elusive enemy

Vulnerabilities exposed

Our freedom never taken for granted again

When all the dust has settled

The guns cease their firing

Stronger in our patriotism we become

With more awareness and compassion

Eyes awakened to a new world

No longer sheltered from reality

We will recover we will survive

Staring at our fellow man

 

Screaming we are Americans

We are proud of who we are

We shall fight till our last breath

No more terror here