A New Pair of Shoes

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    • countrychaos
    • Well everyone, three weeks and Im gonna be the father of a baby boy. Words cant describe how excited I am. Also a little scared. Ive posted a song that Im workin on let me know how you like it.

    Poem Commentary

    I wrote this my second tour. Our mission was to gaurd a checkpoint and the surrounding village from attacks during the elections. It was during this time that i realized not all Iraqi's were bad. Most of them were just trying to live theyre lives and take care of theyre families just like me.

    ( The word Hadji was at the time what we reffered to all iraqi nationals as. I have since then realized that its kind of derrogatory. Im keeping it in the poem because its part of the original material but I do apologize if it offends anyone.)

    A New Pair of Shoes

     

    I get up every morning and do the same routine

    I shave my face, and brush my teeth, make sure my uniform is clean

    I light me up a cigarette and put on all my gear

    Step outside, ready to face another day out here

     

    I’m sitting on the hill today, as convoys pass me by

    I have to sit and guard this bridge, but I really don’t know why

    The up and ups just put us here and told us what to do

    And as a soldier it’s my job to follow orders true

     

    I look down off the hill and see a hadji family

    Milking cows and moving brush and watch over sheep

    I sit and think, “What do they see when they look up my way?”

    I think I’ll put myself in someone elses shoes today.

     

    I get up very early there’s a lot to do today

    Milk the cows, collect the eggs, maybe bale some hay

    My seven wives and children all will need to lend a hand

    It’s very hard to make a little money off this land.

     

    The crops are ready to harvest, the sheep are out to graze

    That cow out there will have her baby in a couple days

    I need to fix the door hinges I need to fix that truck

    I’ll never get it done today without a lot of luck

     

    I look up the hill and see a soldier standing guard

    I hope he’s here to help us now cause times are pretty hard

    I wonder what that soldier see when he looks down my way

    I think I’ll put myself in someone elses shoes today.

     

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    simoneaugustus commented on A New Pair of Shoes

    05-02-2010

    Love love love this! Poignant and inspiring!

    sammia commented on A New Pair of Shoes

    02-12-2010

    Wonderful write. JD you are a amazing poet and it was nice to read this. I don't always look at people like this but I will have to make it something I do. Loved the flow, the wording was perfect, you paint a vivid picture in my mind I saw you sitting on the hill looking down.

    mistynites26 commented on A New Pair of Shoes

    12-28-2009

    Nice to see things from anothers point of view.....I think if we all stopped and took the time to do this with each other we all might understand each other better.

    Tempestlady commented on A New Pair of Shoes

    10-10-2009

    A great work, takes a special kind a person to be able to see life this way. Write on... Thanks for the mental picture.

    BILLY28 commented on A New Pair of Shoes

    10-04-2009

    Dear Sir This is very nice and true,I have no idea of how it is to be in that land or the service.{I'm a D-4.} Anyway it gives a perspective we all should remember in our daily lives.I try not to but now you have made me realize I have been slacking. I may be in good hands right now but it wasn't long ago,2mos. maybe I was on the street and Homeless. For tommorrow I will pit myself in someone eles shoes again. GOD BLESS YOU BE SAFE Billy28

    Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does.

    Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) U.S. poet.

    countrychaos’s Poems (12)

    Title Comments
    Title Comments
    untitled 0
    Sins of a Soldier 14
    Colors 5
    Christmas In Iraq 9
    Treasure 7
    Fire Fight 5
    Looking Back 7
    Mortar 4
    A New Pair of Shoes 6
    Still I Will Stand 3
    Death 2
    Our Life 2