Returning from war
he came through the door
in an obscenely joyous manner
skipping
and laughing
deliriously.
He swung open like a child
the fridge door with a smile that was mild.
Then he procured a juice made out of cranberries.
Thenceforth he came to speak of insanity.
He said,
"Oh my! Oh my! Oh my!"
I haven't quite felt this sane for as long as I remember.
It must just be something about the fifth of September.
Nay! Nay! Nay!
That would be cray cray
as the kids say
nowadays
Who would purport
the most witless notion
that a date
can have any bearing on a happening.
Thank God I'm not in that state!
No, I feel great!
Never saner have I been now staring at this wall!"
Proud and vindicated was his resolve.
Of course—
as this is how the dominoes always topple and fly—
his family worried and thought him crazy
which he was
but they didn't have the right understanding of it.
Oh my, I cry.
They just didn't know, those humans did
All those humans did, those humans who love war
Forgive them.
They didn't know.
For they began to ask questions
as their man of the family laughed without relent
They asked, "How were you sent
to this corner
staring at this wall?"
He said, "It is my call.
Nowhere else would I want to be
than here staring at this majesty
so peacefully.
It's nice and pure and white and innocent.
Quiet.
No noises. No fasting. No lent. No bombs going off without relent.
No screaming or malice
No more drinking of the chalice
of blood and vengeance and revenge and glory
Clinging so tightly they did to their stories
And phrases and things
And now there is none of that
but just a pure wall here to see
With a couple cute pictures on it
Spelling out honesty
Decency
From the mind to here to me
Not deluded or lying deceitfully.
Just there.
Just there simply."
The child, the son of this man, asked in disbelief,
"How can there be pictures that you see?
What you mean; it's just a wall."
His mother cried "Hush!"
And stumbled on the floor and sighed
And moaned
Saying, "No more
Son, your father has gone mad.
He sees things there.
Don't question it.
I pray to God you do not get to know it,
his scare."
Of course, the soldier
was prostrated aghast and confused,
He said, "Mildred, what is deluge
of absurd silly things that I know hear from you.
I tell you I'm not mad.
I've never felt saner, than now staring at this wall.
I don't get why you cannot get that.
I just want to you know, that's all.
From there he fell
and made a noise.
You might've thought he cracked his head.
Sure as hell he lost his poise.
So his wife and child rushed over there
and saw him grounded by the sanity wall
They looked up above him and saw he was not fibbing
There were indeed pictures there, living
Coming alive from a child, they did
They were just crayon scribbles on the wall
that came from the little girl
about the soldier's child's age
from next door.
There's nothing more
to say really of this quite boring story.
It wasn't meant to be horrifying.
There was nothing here to stigmatize.
There was just a man at peace once staying
wanting you to realize
that he was just normal again, for a moment, for a time
As he stared at that sanity wall and didn't wonder why
As he stared at that sanity wall and didn't wonder why
"I feel normal doing this." he said.
Six months later and then he was dead.
