Saturday, July 25, 2009

Free Falling Through The Cracks

He did two tours in Vietnam .
He joined the Army as a teenager,
and is now 64 years old.
In the past months,
he has slept in motels,
in a laundromat bathroom,
at The Salvation Army
and outside in the rain.
He doesn’t want sympathy, though.
He has his challenges.
He was shot in the guts in Vietnam.
He collapsed in the bathroom
and, because of that stroke,
he now uses a walker.
It takes a half-hour
to put on his underwear
because of limited use of his left leg.
He has trouble reading
because of vision problems.
He also notices problems with short-term memory.
He needs help every day, and doesn’t know
what cracks he’s going to fall through
if somebody doesn’t help.
How many guys fall through the cracks
all over the United States.
He’s large and speaks with a raspy voice.
He saw a lot of death in Vietnam
Freedom doesn’t come cheap.

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