Letter to a Soldier

 

She should have written

long ago - she didn’t 

Now she writes to a dead man

“better late than never”

Dear Dad

I didn’t know you were

a soldier,

In a  war, yes, but

not the reality of it.

You never talked to me

Not only about your

war, but nothing else either

You were a stranger, the patriarch, 

No familiarity 

Rules, rules, rules,

Never spoken, how did I know

what to do, not to do,

I just knew

I’ve learned you were

damaged

Buried alive in the trenches, 

not once, twice,

You survived, either with

help or determination,

I don’t know

The damage I saw but

never understood

The weeping, the nightmares,

The weeping you could hide,

but not the night terrors,

not the hospital committals,

not the estrangement

How could I have known you?

What could I have done?

Tell me if you will

I want to understand 

how all of your withholding

benefitted any one but you

I’m sorry too

Yours truly

one daughter

Ellecee 

Day 22 - NaPoWriMo 2024
Prompt : Letter to a Soldier
From: TP_Poetry