Welcome Home

Welcome Home
By Theresa Sue Kennison Baker

His face had a marble pallor,
He thought he was doing right,
No one stole his valor,
He left it in the fight.

His brothers made it home
But they weren't welcome there
The country they did roam,
The people they did stare.

They wiped the sweat from their brows
They wiped the spit from their faces,
They moved past the crowds,
Who claimed they fell from their graces.

They were sprayed with an agent,
Designed to kill vegetation,
It made the servicemen sick,
It deformed an entire nation.

They made it through the napalm,
They made it through the bombs,
They only try to stay calm,
When they flashed back to Nam.

Cancer took them in the end,
The earth no more to roam,
Jesus said, I'll take you in,
You made it, Welcome Home!