Black Snake is what many call PTSD. |
Black Snake By: Bruce A. Hestley Aviation Fire Control Technician First Class US Navy 1964-1979 Black Snake Where did he come from I didn't notice at first I just noticed him one day I stayed busy and kept him at bay I would look down a passageway and see him slither around a corner I would be driving down the street and see him slither under a parked car I would lay down to go to sleep and I would see his evil, malevolent face Mocking me Always smiling Where did he come from Was it when the grape tore through my buddy at Gettysburg Maybe it was when the cannon blew up during training, maiming so many friends Or perhaps when many shipmates were taken in agony as the burning fuel of a bad aircraft landing got them But not me Black Snake got me He was there all the time He was there when I slapped my child across the face and saw her love for me disappear He was in the corner Laughing his evil laugh when I beat my wife's love out of her My family was afraid of me My coworkers kept their distance All the time, Black Snake slithered his oily way through my life He haunts my dreams I have no dreams Only nightmares I have friends Good friends Jack Daniels and Johnny Walker We meet often at a VFW, or a Legion hall or an AMVETS No one else understands We have comfort in numbers there We tell our stories over and over Black Snake is there, but we never mention him by name He is pure evil and we are all afraid of him This evil, this pure unadulterated evil is there He laughs at the beach of Normandy He slithers into another life as a torpedo takes a troopship At Chosin Reservoir and places to numerous to name Even at training bases In the rice paddies, jungles and river boats in The Nam He is there Gathering a following More souls for his games of torment I'm told I did good But, THEY don't know Black Snake Those who know, don't need to be told Those who don't, refuse to listen or understand Black Snake He is joyful as the 30mm of the Warthog sends a tank crew to their destination and the pilot realizes what he's done He is there every day on the streets of Basra Riding with the convoys from Baghdad to Kuwait How to sleep, to rest Only my friends Jack and Johnny to keep me company I see Black Snake, watching This time, he doesn't slither away I look at him and know what I must do I must confront him Jack and Johnny are there with me I know there is only one way to kill Black Snake As the bullet rips through my brain I see him one last time For a moment He is laughing He has won But I am now free of him Blackness and rest now Or is it? PTSD The invisible wound BLACK SNAKE Copyright © 2007 Bruce A. Hestley |