Do not thank me for my service
Not for the many years in which I found joy
Wearing the uniform
Defending the principles
Growing up with and then guiding
Our nation’s finest
Nor for the years that followed
In which I have lost heart
Suspecting and then knowing
That our leaders, well-intentioned or otherwise
Are ignorant, hollow, and self-serving
“Put not your faith in princes,” the Bible says
But that is exactly what I have done
And worse
Not only my faith, have I placed in these small people
But the fate of my family, peace of my household, my very fatherhood
Half my daughter’s life, one third of my son’s, one fifth of my marriage
I have been away
Have squandered my fondest desires
To be husband, father, strong, and stable presence in our home
Christmases, Easters, Thanksgivings, and birthdays
I have spent with others when I would have been at home
Broken fences, leaking roofs, bicycles with flat tires
All my rightful duties
Have fallen on the shoulders of my wife
As if childbirth, motherhood, all the household responsibilities
Were not enough for her
Do not thank me for my service
Rendered in defense of ideals
Unfathomed, unfashionable, and denied
By boy kings, sycophants, and traitors
Your gratitude mocks me
In light of all that I have lost
And all that we used to be
Me, my family, the nation that I loved
– No, not satire this time.