Dedicated to those young men and women who have served.
Some have come back. Some not.

Hi honey

How was your day..?
mine was not that good.
What can you do?
Things are still the same around here.

I miss you badly.
How is Sonny doing?
The son of a gun is growing fast.
He is, he is.

This place is still a quagmire during the day
and a nightmare during the night.
Those ten bastards I killed today.
Their dead bodies are still haunting me.

Their blood was as red as mine.
This whole day killing is killing me.
I wear a uniform, they do not.
The enemy can be…anybody.

I miss your sweet eyes and smile
your gentle warm embrace.
Your breathing entwined with mine
the waves of your laughter drowning me.

Your skin next to mine.
The moment when we reach the stars.
Your kisses breathing life into mine.
And your long shrieking deafening a thunderstorm.

All my comrades have the same yearning.
Except those who fly back home in a wooden casket.
I am lucky to be still telling you about it.
Ooooooooooooops…! that was a miscalculated shot, thankfully.

As I was saying, am having ratty dinners every night
That is O.K.
In fact, that is wonderful.
That beautiful man who died in my arms had not eaten in 40 days. His name was Jesus.

I wish I wrote to you stuff about flowers and rainbows.
But everything around here is bleak. Maybe am repeating myself.
Sorry. You know…? there are strayed dogs all over…struggling…
and yet…they seem to long for company…as we all do…in remote places…there is this furry fellow who follows me…I named him Rocky. He is gentle. Love him.

Hopefully, I shall be seeing you next month.
And we will make love…
See into each other eyes and smile
and laugh out loud, loud,loud. As two foolish people before breaking into tears.

Hopefully, we will be ourselves.
I hope God, we will be.
All this situation can change your life forever.
Where is God when you need the little bastard…?

Ernesto Onofre