WHEN A STRANGER COMES HOME
William Bough
Happy, athletic, and full of life,
Called away from his family, his wife,
He had to go, a job to be done,
Wouldn’t be back till the battle was won.
At home family, friends, all full of fear,
Sending letters and parcels, with news and good cheer,
Out in the sands, he reads, he cries,
What’s to happen if he’s injured, or worse, he dies.
The world watched on T.V., like a video game,
After this, he knew, things won’t be the same,
We got the job done, finished off in a hurry,
All those at home were sick with worry.
Homecoming heroes, let’s buy them a drink,
Are you OK? I’m fine, I think.
Wife has her husband, the kids their dad,
Mother and father, happy to see the lad.
Getting back to normal, making up for lost days
But he’s different, strange, in habit and ways,
He’s distant, as if in some far off place,
Hair is greyer, etched lines on his face.
They all still love him, he feels the same,
Though a stranger, it seems, has his body and name,
Violent, moody, not the man they once knew,
When a stranger comes home, what do you do?