A Lost Soul

"Early in the war

the Army surveyed 3, 671 returning Iraq veterans

and found that 17% of the soldiers

were already suffering from

depression, anxiety and symptoms of PTSD."

(Tyre, 2004)

My art piece depicts a soldier torn between the two lives he has; fighting for his country and being a part of his family. I also posted two written word pieces from my paper to amplify the life of a soldier going through feelings of loneliness after coming home and the passion to want to return to war because the soldier can't adjust to home life.

Solitude of Loneliness

I sit here all alone.

No one can hear what I hear.

No one can see what I see.

If only they knew.

But I can't tell them.

They wouldn't understand.

They pass me in the hallway and pretend to know me.

Everyone goes about their bussiness like I'm not even around.

So I wander the streets, trying to remember nothing.

So I drink myself to sleep, trying to forget the sounds.

It will pass. It has to pass. Or I will pass.

-Phi Nguyen

Soldier

Where do we start to mend

A broken mind is hard to tend

To live amongst the people we love

But feel something is amidst from above

My mind is telling me to go back

My heart feels something I lack

The passion to want to give

The anxiety to want to live

It is not the quantity but quality of life

To make sure my children not face strife

If I can share with the world my story

It would only be of glory

And generations would know why

These men and women lived and died.

-Phi Nguyen