I sat in silence, just smiling.

So many men all around me

All who had served their country

Faithfully, honorably.

They looked so tired to me.

Some even looked homeless,

Abandoned and lost.

The VA takes their names,

Gives them a number

And treats them like a side of beef,

A piece of meat at the deli.

Time passes, slowly, inhumanely,

The crush of humanity

Moves through the waiting area.

They come and go,

Ebb and flow like the tide.

Now it's "hurry up and wait,"

"Polish a bench"

I heard one say.

The hours slip away

As I sit in such awe.

03/09/2008

Author's Note: I spent one morning the other day at the local VA clinic with a sick employee.....

Posted on 03/09/2008
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