I LEFT

I Left
by S.A. Merk

I left my school one day.

I left the University with unfinished degree
to join the Army
to serve my country
to repay a debt
a family tradition.

I left my plans, my path, my dreams
to repay the dues my grandparents were given
as they fled the thunder of jackboots and Tyrants
a War that engulfed the World.

I left the innocence of my arrogant independence
to become one of the countless camouflaged
who follows the orders and will of others.

I left my own ingratitude of liberty
unsure even of what it really meant
to serve and protect
the freedoms of the Ungrateful.

I left for War one day.

I left friends and fellow soldiers
in camouflage dusty brown
lying, dying,
in blackened, oil-drenched sand.

I left my friend, my brother
his right leg laying useless,
unnoticed in the sand,
now somehow less of a man.

I left what was right in my life
to fight what was wrong in the world.

I left my life - left who I was;
husband, father, son, friend.

I left the man I was meant to be
something less
as I became
something
more.