My Single Mom Life

If I could see your face

Just one more time
to crystallize your beauty

In my mind
to freeze the smile

That wars erase
and rob the Memories

Of your face

for what I see

Is death and hate
the twisted thoughts

Hostile hands of fate
The mindless mores

Motivate to maim
for senseless cries

Of victory to proclaim

That I could hear

The softness of your cry
The thought that war

Had sentenced me to die
To hear your sobs

See teardrops fall
reminders that

Love transcended all

For what I hear

Voices raised in pain
Another death

Considered someone's gain
A baby's cry

A mother's screams
The sounds that echo

In my dreams

If I could smell

The scent of your skin
To comfort my emotions

From deep within
Autumn leaves fall

Without a sound
The scented breeze

Guides them to the ground

For what I smell

Comes from the fray

Of burnt-out homes

Bodies in decay
The stench of human flesh

Engulfed in flame

The smell that drives

A man's mind insane

If I could touch

My son’s heart
to give him hope

While we're apart
and feel his childlike

Hand in mine
an eternal imprint

On my mind

For I have touched

The hand of death
And sensed the coldness

Of its breath
I have felt it

Terrorize this land
And stalk the dunes

Of desert sand

If I could taste

The turkey breast
that's basted in

Your sweet caress
and savor deep

Within my soul
the joys of life

I've put on hold

For what I taste

Is stale and sour
the fear of death

From hour to hour
the bitter sweet

Of love and pain
Please tell me that

It’s not in vain

Written by: Crowell Christopher S SGT 303rd MI BN CASE
My cousin, serving his second term in Iraq.