Still
Around me I hear breathing.
Breathing in front of me,
Breathing behind me.
Even breathing far, far away from me.
I feel the people surrounding me,
And yet, I cannot see them.
I try to open my eyes.
I look in front of me,
I look behind me,
I look off in the distance.
But everywhere I turn is complete darkness.
I see nothing.
So, I try to use my other senses.
I feel in front of me,
I listen behind me,
I try to sense what is off in the distance,
But none of my senses seem to be working.
It is then that I realize that it isn't just me who is broken.
Everyone around me is still.
Those in front of me don't move.
Those behind me don't speak,
No one around me does anything.
Soon I realize, that they are not the only ones who are still.
I am still also.
But suddenly, light floods the room.
As my eyes focus, I see many things,
I see people In front of me,
People behind me,
And people in the distance, staring at me.
I see that I am on a stage.
I then realize that everyone around me is not just still.
Those In front of me are preparing, Those behind me are ready to perform,
And those in the distance are anticipating the event that is to come.
So I watch as those around me raise their heads in preparation,
And the cacophony begins.
I try to keep up, try to not stop.
But alas, I know that I am way behind where I should be.
Those in front of me have gone ahead, those behind me have moved on,
Those off in the distance show no signs of slowing and waiting for me to catch up.
So I lower my head once again, as everyone else plays on.
I lower my head and once again, I am still.
This poem is meant to represent the picture of the Vietnam war vets. Although the poem sounds like it is representative of the actual war, it is supposed to represent their struggle once they returned home. Because the U.S. lost the war, the Vietnam war vets weren't treated with the respect that they should've been treated with. This probably made it hard for them to readjust to civilian life, when everyone was moving on without them without so much as offering a helping hand. That is why the poem is titled “Still”. It shows how the rest of the world kept going, but they couldn't until they dealt with their feelings on and memories of the war. For many of them, their brothers were killed (whether biological or not). It must have felt like they were still stuck in Vietnam with those of them that didn't make it out. That is mainly what this poem represents, and I feel as though it is representative of the picture because the picture shows them with their brothers and those they fought along side with, and that is probably who they felt stuck with afterwards and what made it hard to move on.
Around me I hear breathing.
Breathing in front of me,
Breathing behind me.
Even breathing far, far away from me.
I feel the people surrounding me,
And yet, I cannot see them.
I try to open my eyes.
I look in front of me,
I look behind me,
I look off in the distance.
But everywhere I turn is complete darkness.
I see nothing.
So, I try to use my other senses.
I feel in front of me,
I listen behind me,
I try to sense what is off in the distance,
But none of my senses seem to be working.
It is then that I realize that it isn't just me who is broken.
Everyone around me is still.
Those in front of me don't move.
Those behind me don't speak,
No one around me does anything.
Soon I realize, that they are not the only ones who are still.
I am still also.
But suddenly, light floods the room.
As my eyes focus, I see many things,
I see people In front of me,
People behind me,
And people in the distance, staring at me.
I see that I am on a stage.
I then realize that everyone around me is not just still.
Those In front of me are preparing, Those behind me are ready to perform,
And those in the distance are anticipating the event that is to come.
So I watch as those around me raise their heads in preparation,
And the cacophony begins.
I try to keep up, try to not stop.
But alas, I know that I am way behind where I should be.
Those in front of me have gone ahead, those behind me have moved on,
Those off in the distance show no signs of slowing and waiting for me to catch up.
So I lower my head once again, as everyone else plays on.
I lower my head and once again, I am still.
This poem is meant to represent the picture of the Vietnam war vets. Although the poem sounds like it is representative of the actual war, it is supposed to represent their struggle once they returned home. Because the U.S. lost the war, the Vietnam war vets weren't treated with the respect that they should've been treated with. This probably made it hard for them to readjust to civilian life, when everyone was moving on without them without so much as offering a helping hand. That is why the poem is titled “Still”. It shows how the rest of the world kept going, but they couldn't until they dealt with their feelings on and memories of the war. For many of them, their brothers were killed (whether biological or not). It must have felt like they were still stuck in Vietnam with those of them that didn't make it out. That is mainly what this poem represents, and I feel as though it is representative of the picture because the picture shows them with their brothers and those they fought along side with, and that is probably who they felt stuck with afterwards and what made it hard to move on.