I have written these poems in tribute to Veterans everywhere. I am not a veteran, but having talked to many in finding out about my dad, and what I remember of my dad's reaction when war was talked about I have learned a little about what they feel and what it means to them and I have tried to put it into some of my poems. I KNOW that I can never, ever feel what they do or remember what they remember so the feelings I have tried to put into words may not be accurate, I have done the best I could so that others like myself may have a little more understanding.

WONDERFUL NEWS --- My poem A Soldier's Prayer has been published as part of a book now available at Barnes and Nobel. The book is about the Women who served in Vietnam. If you think you might be interested in the book go over to Author's Website to learn more about the book. Buy it at Barnes and Nobels - Angels in Vietnam:Women who Served

WWW.MILITARYWIVES.COM has a wall hanging quality copy of my poem My Daddy Is a Soldier, adapted for the other service branches and in Mommy as well, available for purchase. They've done a truly beautiful job so please go take a look at what they've done with my poem and see all the other items they offer.

If you would like to copy the poems that's fine just let me know as I like to keep track of where my poems go. Thank you. Maria

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A SOLDIER'S PRAYER Dear Lord Please let me have regular dreams like others do Not these nightmares of memory Let my dreams be filled with light and joy Not smoke and terror Let me hear the laughter of children Not the screams of men dying Let the birds fill the air with song Not the sounds of bombs and bullets Let the rivers run pure and clear Not red with blood Let everyone be healthy and whole Not missing limbs and faces Let the earth look as you made it Not scorched and cratered Let me wake up smiling Not searching for the enemy Let the sweat on my pillow be from summer's heat Not the sweat of fear and anxiety but dear Lord most of all I beg you Please don't let my children or their children pray to you as I am doing tonight Amen Written by Maria Sutherland September 16, 1999

MY DADDY IS A SOLDIER My daddy is a soldier he’s often gone away to some far off country where he has to stay. I really miss my daddy and I’m not sure what he does except he helps other people who need him very much. At night when I say my prayers I ask to keep daddy safe so that he can come home to us and sit in his favourite place. Some nights I can hear mommy cry when she thinks I’m asleep I know she misses daddy and her sadness hurts real deep. I know that a day may come when daddy won’t come home and it scares me even thinking that we will be alone. My daddy is a soldier he’s often gone away And I am so very proud of him each and every day. Come home to us daddy When your job is done I know that those people needed you But they aren’t the only ones. written by Maria Sutherland April 7, 2003 Daddy can be changed to mommy for all the soldier moms.

TOO YOUNG Yesterday you were a boy with peachfuzz on your chin just graduating from high school your life to begin Today you must become a man although to young to shave your goverment has called your name and your country you must save Today you don a uniform a rifle placed in your hand and told that you must kill the enemy of the land You stand so very straight and tall a boy in a man's place little do you understand the terror that you'll face Army was your favourite game with toy gun in your hand you'd go and kill the enemy who'd always come alive again This time my son it is for real with bullets not just bang and those killed will never rise again for them the funeral bells have rang Yesterday you were a boy with peachfuzz on your chin just graduating from high school your life to begin Today a coffin brings you home at your graveside we must stand my wonderful darling little boy will never become a man. Written by Maria Sutherland January 1st, 2001 This is for all the parents past, present and future who must suffer losing their child because of war.

MY PROMISE I promise you dear soldier to remember what you've done all the sacrifies you have made in battles lost and won. I promise you dear soldier that you will not have fought in vain even when the years have come and gone and only your tombstone does remain I promise you dear soldier a poppy I will wear to show the world I'm proud of you and that I will always care I promise you dear soldier to teach my children well so that they will always remember and to their children the stories tell To you I make this promise an oath straight from my heart to never, ever forget you and that in my life you have a part. Lest that we forget the terror that is war and all that has been given by those who fought before written by Maria Sutherland November 2000 This pledge is meant for every soldier, past, present and future to tell them that although we don't each of them individually that we will still remember them for what they have done to make the world a safer place for us all. If you want a copy of this poem to send to a soldier just email me first and let me know that your passing this poem on to someone who deserves it and needs to know we do care and that what they are doing has meaning to us and it is not all in vain.

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TODAY Today I took my first life I pray God understands this blood upon my hands. I know that it will haunt me long after it’s washed away for this death has scarred my soul and in my memory it will stay. I know I didn’t have a choice that killing is part of war and it’s something I will continue to do until I leave this shore. The old timers say, “Don’t sweat it a numbness will set in and in place of your emotions an emptiness will begin. “That emptiness will keep you alive and your sanity intact; it will kill any pangs of conscience so you instantly react. “You can’t let it get to you or it’ll be you instead of them and it will be your blood through which your buddies swim.” To live I must lose my humanity but without humanity how do I live and how do I face the ones I love if I have no love to give. I don’t want to feel that emptiness but in war there is no choice because it will bring death or insanity to give your heart a voice. Today I took my first life but killing’s the easy part the hardest will be when I go home and have to reopen my heart. ©Maria Sutherland March 2001 Well, I decided to be brave and show the poem I wrote one night about a week ago. I was thinking about all the poems I have read and the talks I've had with veterans and this came to mind. I have composed it in the form of “I”, the first person; please forgive my presumption. M.S. _________________ I wrote this poem specifically for the Vietnam veterans I have come to know because what happened to them when they came home is unforgiveable. I understand that my daddy and many of the soldier's he went with to the Dutch East Indies came home to a very similar reaction. I've put it beneath TODAY because this poem shows how hard it is for soldier's to do what they need to do, and how the reaction they received on arriving home tore them apart. Why? I did as my country asked me although I was but a boy I took my rifle in my hand and to jungle I did deploy. Nam was so very different than all I had ever known and this war wasn’t like the ones I used to play at home. But I remember grandpa’s stories of happiness when he got back so I held my head up high and continued on the track. I was one of the lucky ones and got a seat on the plane I couldn’t believe the condemnation and my country’s disdain. As tears of disbelief and pain blurred out that hissing crowd I had to close my ears and heart to the insults shouted so loud. I only did my duty I fought instead of ran so why are people ashamed of me and refuse to shake my hand? ©Maria Sutherland 2001

This poem was written in 1998. The one and only exception that I will make in regards to famous people is Bob Hope, he was a soldier in his heart and gave that heart to everyone. His passing ended something very special, but his memory will always be with us. WHICH HERO? He was special to his family, to his friends, to his comrades in arms. For little pay hazardous working conditions he gave without greed he gave from his heart. Today he died sacrificing his life for his country but no one knows except his family, his friends, his comrades in arms. They have lost someone special as has his country but his country does not know or care for today a celebrity died a person of wealth, fame, notoriety known by everyone for their commercials, their wealth, their product endorsements. Death has claimed two people today one a celebrity, a face known to all the other a soldier, known only to those close to him both are mourned for only one do strangers weep do they send cards, flowers is the announcement front page news is their name and picture on the news is the church filled to overflowing are the TV cameras taping the burial for the other only his family weeps only his family, friends and comrades send cards, flowers the only announcement is under Deaths in the local paper only his family, friends, comrades know his name only a few go to the church, many pews are empty there are no TV cameras taping the burial Two men died today one a celebrity the other a simple soldier both people are important both deaths will be felt but to the country one death is important a celebrity has died. What a sad world it is when a person’s value is measured by his bank account. ©Maria Sutherland February 23, 1998

The Poppy Man An old man stands on the sidewalk dressed in a uniform one size to small five decades old smelling of mothballs the last of his regiment but each crease is sharp every button gleaming the collar perfectly starched on his chest are ribbons and medals his bearing is erect pride and dignity shine in his eyes and in his gnarled hands sits a box in the box are plastic poppies on a pin the old man waits for people to notice he is sure they will stop take a poppy and contribute a quarter or two after all Remembrance Day is coming they will remember they will take a poppy to wear to show their pride and gratitude He stands patiently watching as the people walk by the older people stop smilke, take a poppy, put a dollar in the can for they remember as he does a few others stop, take a poppy, drop in some change smile and tell him about their dad or uncle or grandpa but they are few a few snicker laughing at the old man commenting on how ridiculous he looks in his old, too small uniform standing out in the cold others look at him with pity for the poor old man living in the past but he continues to stand there his bearing a little less erect a moistness gleaming in his eyes but then he straightens for he is a soldier he answered when his country called he served his nation with everything he had he offered his life for others they will remember he knows it some young ones approach but to him they're all young it's hard to tell their age they stop next to him they understand he thinks realize what he did want to honour those died in the war to say thank you to the few who remain they know that their freedom was won by him and others like him he smiles with pride then it happens the one speaks "It was so long ago" "ancient history" "forget about it" "go home Old Man" "No one cares anymore" the old man's face crumbles tears shine in his eyes his bearing is no longer erect the pain radiates around him far worse pain than anything caused during the war he is now nothing but an old man dressed in a uniform one size to small five decades old smelling of mothballs with a box of plastic poppies on pins written by Maria Sutherland Oct. 1998 I wrote this in the hope that when next Veteran's/Memorial Day comes around and Poppies are sitting on counters, or as here in Canada a Veteran with a box of poppies stands out in the cold you don't just walk past, that you stop, take a moment and get a Poppy and wear it for everyone to see. It's such a simple thing that means so much.

To Those Who Fought the War We have so many freedoms we live with everyday that we take for granted as always being this way. It can be so easy to forget that what we've come to know was won through the blood and tears of those who fought our country's foe. Who offered the most precious gift that anyone can give they offered up their own lives so that we may live Live in a land of freedom where you can speak your mind where happiness is a right and not something for which to pine. Many gave their lives on the battlefields of yore and those that did come home still live with that war. It's engaved in their memories and for some in their body too it invades a peaceful slumber with nightmares that are true. Nightmares of broken bodies laying all around the screams of pain and terror as bombs tear up the ground. Where would we be without them these men now old and grey their willingness to sacrifice gave us what we have today. Over half a century's come and gone since the world last went to war the soldiers of that era are almost no more. Even when the last man lives on this earth no more we must continue to remember him and all who went before For from the sacrifices of those men who we must never ignore came all the things we cherish most and wouldn't have if Hitler'd won the war. written by Maria Sutherland Even though this poem was written for my dad and all the men and women who risked their lives during World War II it still holds true for all the soldier's since then who have and continue to risk their lives to preserve peace throughout the planet. Thank you. The Soldier's Bond The horror that is war never goes away no matter how many years pass the memories stay But for all the ugly pictures there are some good ones too of the special bonds that soldiers have with others that they knew Only another solider can truly understand the depth of love and friendship that binds the fighting man To truly trust each other is difficult to do but you learn to trust another as they learn to trust you There are no words to describe it the bond these men share and we'd never understand it because we weren't there I'm sure if you say to them, I wish I had that type of bond that special trust you share as one they'd say to you 'NO CHILD I hope you never do because that means a war again and all the horror too. I cherish all the memories of the men I came to know that special bond we forged so many years ago but those bonds that we made were so you'd never have to know all the horror that forged them and the pain that never goes.' Written by Maria Sutherland December 1998

When You Ask When you ask me questions that it seems like I ignore it's because it's just to painful to talk about the war. I know you don't understand and you never will the pictures locked within my mind and in my heart still Unless you were with me and saw what I still see you can never know how devastating war can be You do whatever you have to in hopes you'll stay alive to see another dawn break in bomber-laden skies I'm not ashamed of what I did nor will I ever be because when my country called I answered and didn't flee but what I did and saw haunts me everyday no matter how very hard I try to keep them at bay so when you ask me questions and I seem so far away it's because it's coming back to me as if it were yesterday I honestly can't talk to you the memories I can't share unless I'm with my comrades who were aslo there because they know just how I feel and feel the same as I do So when I break down in tears there's no confusion in their eyes just the heart-deep understanding of a soldier's ties When you ask me questions that it seems like I ignore it's because it's just to painful to talk about the war. written by Maria Sutherland December 1998

I Understand I often regret I never asked about the time you went to war but now I realize you'd never let me know not out of meanness or shame at what you'd done but because of the pain that in those memories lives we try to understand it how it can cause pain still after so many years have passed but we never will. Unless you saw the blood spill felt that constant fear struggled with your conscience and the horror of a kill. I know when you won't talk of it you're trying to forget and the tears that shimmer in your eyes are because of all you saw and did I wish that I could comfort you and take the pain away because of how I love you you mean the world to me But that is a part of you that helped forge who you are made you the very special man who I hold close in my heart. Written by Maria Sutherland December 1998

This is to my dad. He didn't pass away until 1976 but he is still very much missed as I am sure there are many others who have someone special that they wish they could spent just one more day with and to me Christmas would be the most wonderful one.

60 Years of Service Six decades have passed So long ago So few of us remain But our memories are clear Wasn’t it just yesterday That we met for the first time Battle-weary men Volunteers all Many old beyond their years We fought hard to be free We were resistance fighters Now others needed us The Dutch East Indies Our Prince asked for our help And we gave it freely. Six decades have passed Can it truly be that long ago We united under our Prince’s command And named the Stoottroepers? Now we are old Our battle is with age and nature But our memories are clear So few anniversaries are left But we will still meet every year As we have for the last 60 years To remember To reminisce To shed tears for those that have passed on To renew the bonds Only the first Stoottroepers share. We led the way Remember us always. Written by Maria Sutherland

Six Decades of Service We have reached the 21st Century The year 2004 Sixty year ago Fresh from a war Battle-weary men, resistance fighters Volunteers all Answered our prince’s call The Dutch East Indies colony Needed fighters Men willing to fight In circumstances never before faced Guerilla warfare Jungles Heat Malaria And those brave men said yes They became the Stoottroepers Storm Troopers for the Prince They were the first Stoottroepers Written by Maria Sutherland December 1998

I know I've written more poems but I'll have to go find them, and then I'll add them to the page.