If you are one of the fellowship of the broken hearted
who have served in war time,
if you are one of the fellowship of the broken hearted
who have loved someone who has served in war time,
know that those of us who have not served, who have not given our loved ones to serve –
cannot know what it means that you live with scarred and broken open hearts.
Mostly, it does not occur to those of us outside that fellowship
that war by its design shatters the hearts of those who live it,
that hearts shattered by war take years to heal,
if they heal,
that your broken hearts buy our peaceful sleep at night.
Rather than risk acknowledging our complicity in your heart’s wounding
we go on pretending
that war only happens in books or onscreen,
far away,
to people we do not know.
Rev. Gail Marriner















