POEM: Prisoner in My Mind

PRISONER IN MY MIND

One year is not supposed to be that long

Or is it?

Is this what it's like to be in prison

Or am I?

I did not commit a crime

Nor a single felony

But it feels just the same

I cannot escape this cage I am in

I cannot fly away even if I had wings

I see my daughter growing up in pictures

I can hear my husband's pain from a distance

I am not supposed to complain

Because this is what it takes

To be a soldier

But it hurts just the same.

21 APRIL Salerno, Afghanistan