Half The Man

I awoke this morning and felt like half the man I used to be
When I looked in the mirror
I didn't recognize the face staring back at me

Gone is the youthfulness
The smile
The twinkling eyes

I see a battle
That wasn't won
A time wearied face
The eyes show feeling of a war fought that no one can see
I see but you don't know what is going on inside of me
The faces that I cannot forget, that were so dear to me
Over half a century
Yesterday seems so far away
Was I ever really in Vietnam
Did that really happen to me?
I am sitting here so early in the morning, because I cannot sleep
Afraid to slip into dreamland because of the demons that terrorize me
In the past so long ago
I still cannot forget
The war ended but still rages on
Inside of me

Shot for shot
Life for life
Nothing gained
But a life of painful memories

I Can't sleep
I look up
The love of my life walks into the room
Unsmiling I look into the mirror afraid of sleep
I can't tell her
That I'm half the man that I used to be