God’s Hands…

by Daniel Clancy

I’ve never seen the hands of god in my work only death
So I will search for redemption until my dying breath

I’ve seen glimpses of mercy and grace
Those moments overshadowed by bullets to the face

I pray you never have to see what war does to a child
What once was innocent is now defiled

Maybe you should see how a bomb rips limbs apart
I hope you rethink sending your own kids to war before it starts

They taught us to shake their hands and we broke bread with sheikhs
But the smell of death stays on your clothes for weeks

If only the schools we built taught them the truth
This bloodstained sand now educates our youth

If this land is Holy why do we still burn it down?
Bombs made in our factories rain all around

Nightmares to some but I’m numb to those sounds
The pain from moral wounds never heals only compounds

_______________________

In his upcoming book, The Rose That Grew From Sand, Daniel Clancy, a retired Marine Corps and Army infantryman with over 20 years of service, offers a raw and unflinching look at war. Through stark and visceral poetry, he captures the violence of the battlefield and the deeper battles soldiers face when they come home—grappling with PTSD, mental health struggles, and the difficult readjustment to civilian life.

As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.